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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
















tEije Sbtngboti Religious QEbucation UTextS 
Habib &. JQobmep, ©eneral Cbitor 

WEEK-DAY SCHOOL SERIES GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, Editor 


Living at Our Best 

TEACHER’S MANUAL 


By 

MABEL HILL 

i 9 




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apt 

via 

£3 



THE ABINGDON PRESS 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 












'BVissfl 
.V\ 5 


Copyright, 1923, by 
MABEL HILL 
All Rights Reserved 



Printed in the United States of America 

JUL 25 ’23 

©C1A752227 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER p AGE 

Introduction. 5 

I. Growing Up. 9 

II. The Will to Be Well. 13 

III. Heads and Heels. 17 

IV. Have a Heart. 20 

V. The Doctor-Preacher. 23 

VI. The Born Leader. 29 

VII. Health and Heaven. 34 

VIII. “The Card on the House”. 39 

IX. The Coated Tongue. 43 

X. Who Are You?. 47 

XI. The Laborer Is Worthy of His Hire. . 50 

XII. Money Is Defense. 55 

XIII. Beginning Business. 58 

XIV. Truth Is Wealth. 61 

XV. What Is Your Work?. 65 

XVI. When Work Is Not Drudgery. 71 

XVII. “My Skill Is My Fortune, Sir”. 75 

XVIII. What Is Thrift?. 80 

XIX. When Become a Specialist?. 84 

XX. Save for the Sunny Day. 88 

XXI. Rich Toward God. 93 

XXII. High Adventure. 97 

XXIII. Happiness. 102 

























4 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXIV. Each for All. 107 

XXV. Playing the Game of Life . no 

XXVI. Time Off . 114 

XXVII. Follow Your Leader. 118 

XXVIII. Good Fellows. 122 

XXIX. Let the People Rule. 127 

XXX. “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”. 133 

XXXI. Are You the Hope of the World?. .. 138 

XXXII. “Soul-Keep”.:. 143 

Last Word. 147 











INTRODUCTION 


The following lessons have been developed with 
a twofold aim in mind. 

Everyday living is of necessity the experience of 
every member of society. There usually arrives a 
consciousness of one’s relation to society for boys and 
girls somewhere between the ages of twelve and four¬ 
teen; a realization that life brings experiences to them 
not only from within the home and the school but 
from growing relationships with the community. 

It is desirable that this conscious relationship 
with society should be so presented to our young 
boys and young girls of early adolescent age that their 
interests shall be aroused, and their desires stirred 
to assist in the community life which offers opportu¬ 
nities in which even the youngest members may share. 

We hope, however, to bring before the members 
of the class a deeper relationship in the experience 
of everyday living, and w r ish so to present the 
Gospels’ challenge of the actual “Kingdom of God” 
that the students shall be convinced that when one 
is living at his best he is a Christian citizen, trying 
in his finite way to do the work which the Son of 
God prophesied should be carried on by his disciples. 

During the last two thousand years men and 
women have tried to live lives of Christian virtue, 
and poets and essayists have set before them stirring 
religious literature. We have, therefore, added 
quotations and excerpts from authors whose in¬ 
spiration, we believe, is only secondary to that of 
the Bible. And we have challenged discussion by 
adding to the lessons groups of questions which 
should stimulate much informal and, we hope, 
happy conversation in the hour of recitation. 

5 


6 


INTRODUCTION 


The Aim of the Course 

Our text is divided into three parts. We have 
chosen the old expression “Health, Wealth, and 
Happiness” not only because it sums up in brief 
form that for which man has labored since time 
began, but because at the present moment these 
special topics are in the lime-light. Public health 
has gone so far that physicians and psychologists 
are working together for health of body and mind 
and spirit. Moreover, the brilliant economists in 
our universities have reached the conclusion that 
wealth includes time and opportunity as well as 
money. And perhaps the most far-reaching social 
psychology of the present century is the fact that 
ultimate happiness is based upon conformity to 
law and service. 

Living at Our Best is no easy task: while each 
lesson is presented in very simple language, with 
the discussion of very simple daily acts, the aim is 
so to present Christ’s social message to these young 
boys and girls that they will understand his words 
of advice and his philosophy of life. This task, 
we say, is not an easy one. It will take consecration 
and reverence to teach a course the culmination 
of which is to lead boys and girls into a passionate 
desire to follow the leadership of the Master. 

And we believe that “Faith without works is of 
no avail.” The year’s study will be worse than no 
study if at the end we do not see the boys and 
girls steadily becoming more interested in the 
kingdom of God and making an effort to partake 
in social service as an expression of that interest. 
Living at Our Best should mean a text which not only 
inspires but works out practical applied Christianity. 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


Subject Matter of the Course 

The chapter titles of the three parts enumerated 
in the Table of Contents have been chosen with 
the desire to catch the mind of the students. Be¬ 
hind the titles lie the great subjects of meeting 
obligations, reasonable service, obedience, courage, 
conscientiousness, purity, loyalty, lovingness, for¬ 
giveness, and sacrifice. These are subjects which 
the teacher may amplify at her discretion. They 
lie between the lines of the anecdote and the quota¬ 
tion. Purposely they have not been thrust upon 
the boys and girls. The teacher is supposed to be 
so trained either by education or experience that 
any little homily upon these great subjects will 
come from her heart, “for out of the heart are the 
issues of life.” The teacher, moreover, will be a 
student of the Bible, and biblical and historical 
references which are simply touched upon in the 
text she will without doubt introduce at the psy¬ 
chological moment. 

We ask of the capable teacher that she read the 
whole text of Living at Our Best before undertaking 
to teach the lessons. Having gathered a running 
idea of what the authors have presented, we be¬ 
lieve that an effort on her part to become an expert 
on the subject of health, wealth, and happiness 
is most important. It will be wise for the teacher 
to obtain from the United States Bureau of Educa¬ 
tion, Washington, D. C., and also from the Bureau 
of Home Economics in the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, the many pamphlets which these bureaus 
have published in connection with health both 
physical and mental, and the particularly helpful 
pamphlets in connection with Home Economics*. 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


The list of books in the Appendix will help in 
developing the ideas of happiness and social service. 

Materials and Equipment 

The class should be provided with Bibles (Amer¬ 
ican Standard Revised Version), notebooks, pens, 
paste, and a map of the town in which they live. 
This map may be built up and developed as various 
members of the class bring in subjects for discus¬ 
sion suggested by the Study Topics. For instance, 
when we ask the pupils to name the men and women 
they know in their community who are carrying 
on the wonderful work begun by Jesus in his cures 
of blindness and deafness there should be marked 
on the map of the community or the city the hos¬ 
pitals or the homes for incurables or the headquarters 
for the district nurses, and so on, emphasizing as 
far as possible the actual life of the community 
which is Christlike. 

The class may make collections of pictures not 
only illustrating the people and the buildings that 
portray the ideas set forth in this text but views 
which will illustrate also the life of Christ and 
the surroundings which were daily before his eyes. 
The city of Nazareth, so full of trade and com¬ 
mercial enterprise, with the coming of the camels 
from the desert to meet the traders from the far 
West, was a city like unto our cities. “Can any 
good come out of Nazareth?” was said in the days 
of Jesus Christ. “Can any good come out of our 
own community?” is the challenge of the twentieth 
century. It will interest the class to collect from 
newspapers and magazines pictures of this Eastern 
world, this Jewish environment, and compare with 
pictures of some modern cities. 


CHAPTER I 


GROWING UP 

The teacher at the outset should appeal to the 
members of the class by assuring them that from 
now on they are to be taken seriously—that at 
their age the teacher believes that the growth of 
body and mind which has developed so rapidly 
in the past year or two makes it possible to discuss 
the experiences of living together in the community. 
The text says that “Your increased stature is making 
you ‘safe for the world’ because, with your increased 
strength has come a self-control that makes it 
comfortable and enjoyable to live with you.” 

Aim.—In other words, the teacher takes the 
class into her confidence. If it seems wise the 
teacher will read the brief story which is told of 
the Boyhood of Jesus, when he too was twelve. 
The story is told farther along in the text, but 
there is no reason why the teacher should not use 
it at this particular moment when she is encour¬ 
aging her pupils to meet their obligations to make 
a study of everyday living, just as did the boy 
Jesus when he went in to the Temple to talk of 
his own personal obligations to his heavenly Father. 

The teacher should emphasize far more vividly 
than the authors this period when one grows so 
fast both physically and mentally that not only 
one cannot have but a single suit of clothes at a 
time, but even storybooks are thrown aside for 
new and older stories, because of our changing 


10 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


interests. This “Growing Up” can be made very 
fascinating, and the pupils can return to their 
homes after the first chapter has been presented 
in Living at Our Best with a feeling that they too, 
like Jesus, may “increase in wisdom and stature 
and in favor with God and man.” 

Centers of stress.—The purpose of this first 
chapter centers in the thought that by the time 
we are twelve years of age we should be subject 
to our conscience, and that though a boy or girl 
of twelve or thirteen is still very young, with the 
old poet Ben Jonson we can say: 

“In small proportions we just beauty see; 

And in short measures life may perfect be.” 

This chapter will probably be taught too early for 
the football games, but football heroes and basket¬ 
ball heroines are well known in the public schools and 
throughout the community. It will be possible, there¬ 
fore, to follow up this discussion with examples un¬ 
til the teacher has established sufficient interest. 

“Taking care of yourself” is another thought 
which needs discussion; and “The ability to talk 
like a gentleman,” or like a lady for that matter. 
Here, again, the more informal and frank the dis¬ 
cussion, the more able we are to lodge in the mind 
of a class the thought that responsibility for finer 
and stronger daily living is part of the respon¬ 
sibility of growing up. Then, again, on page 18, 
the question of “becoming subject to” is another 
topic which needs much elaboration. Sharing in the 
family hospitality as a social obligation may be 
altogether new to many members of the class. The 
teacher has a splendid opportunity at this point to 
emphasize the matter of courtesy and social culture. 


GROWING UP 


ii 


Procedure.—If the members of the class each 
have a textbook, this opening chapter may well 
be read aloud by the different members of the 
class. Especially if the books have but just been 
given out and there has been no time for study. The 
paragraphs may be broken in order that discussion 
may take place where a sentence challenges ques¬ 
tion and answer. It might be of advantage for 
the teacher to read the whole of such a paragraph 
aloud first and then have it reread in parts by the 
boys and girls with immediate discussion taking 
place. For instance, “A lithe body”:—at once 
this gives an opportunity for the class to discuss 
some splendid leader on the football team who is 
not so big and strong physically as an opponent, 
but whose wit and daring and very “liveness” itself 
has made him a success. 

Application.—Our ten Study Topics following the 
memory quotation open up different avenues for 
discussion. After the topics have been thoroughly 
gone over, the relationship between the text and 
the topics of the chapter will not only be seen, but, 
in a measure, the application of both text and 
topics will be better understood. The class will 
be able to examine themselves individually and 
note whether, in the last year or two, they, like 
their Master, Jesus Christ, when a boy of twelve, 
“increased in wisdom and stature,” and are them¬ 
selves in favor with God and man. 

Activities.—We would suggest that notebooks be 
kept throughout the year. Very brief answers to 
the Study Topics should be written down in the 
notebooks for each chapter. Where it is necessary 
to look up references, the answer should be placed 
in the notebook.. In this particular chapter the 


12 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


notebook should contain a brief definition of why 
Napoleon is counted a man worthy of discussion; 
why Alexander’s conquest was not as important 
as Homer’s “Iliad”; where Tufts College is situated; 
who Barnum was; who Ben Jonson was; and the 
meanings of any words which are used in the text 
which need further explanation. 

Assignment.—Have the next lesson in your 
mind and decide just the best use to be made of 
its points, and how your class can be led to study 
the lesson and prepare to discuss its topics. Assign¬ 
ments may be made for looking up instances of 
heroic struggles for health and vigor, the cost of 
sickness, etc. Every lesson should have its special, 
detailed motivated assignment, such as will bring 
cooperative effort to master and apply. 

Books for Reference 

The Life and Words of Christ , Geikie. D. Appleton 
& Company. 

A People’s Life of Christ , Patterson-Smyth. Flem¬ 
ing H. Revell Company. 

Jesus Our Standard , Horne. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER II 


THE WILL TO BE WELL 

The appeal of this chapter is to a better under¬ 
standing of physical health; to challenge the class 
to feel the force of Saint Paul’s words quoted in 
the text, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by 
the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies 
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which 
is your reasonable service.” 

Aim.—The aim of this chapter is to show that 
we must become physically fit when young in 
order to make good as we grow older; and to lead 
to the present practice of physical fitness. The 
teacher should emphasize Wordsworth’s lines, “The 
child is father of the man.” 

Because of space it has been impossible to give 
in detail the story of Roosevelt’s boyhood and the 
way he outgrew his semi-invalidism. If possible for 
the teacher to have access to a life of Roosevelt, 
it would be well for her to give (or have some 
pupil give) in detail more facts concerning the 
ambitious boy, the boy who “willed to be a strong 
man,” and the way in which he accomplished his 
purpose. 

Centers of stress. —After emphasizing the story 
of Roosevelt comes the challenge to the boys and 
girls themselves. Much discussion may follow the 
brief paragraph “Be Strong.” A third center of 
stress is the statement that throughout the cen- 

13 


H 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


turies it has been almost impossible for any artist 
of any nation to portray the child Jesus or the 
man who was our Master in such a fashion that we 
shall see in the picture some one who was holy and 
acceptable unto God. This picture of Jesus which 
has been attempted over and over again always 
ends in disappointment because we know the artists 
have been unable to portray the ever-increasing 
strength and power of the Christ. 

So, too, the older we grow the more we realize 
the importance of health and our obligation to 
society to prevent ill-health through knowledge 
of disease, prevention of disease and ideals of right 
physical living. 

The questions on “Save on Repairs” are worth 
taking up in detail, especially the thought of how 
much we may spend for other things if we save 
the cost of doctors’, druggists’, hospitals’, and 
nurses’ bills. 

Procedure. —Having discussed the main text of 
Chapter II while reading it informally aloud to the 
class, it will be possible to take the memory quota¬ 
tion as a basis upon which we may work. In the 
first verse we can discuss the “powers of dark¬ 
ness,” which are indifference and ignorance in 
regard to disease, as well as vice. Then, too, we 
can take the second verse and build up a list of 
the methods which we ourselves and the people 
of the community constantly use to overcome the 
powers of darkness which wage around our steps. 
It is important for the pupils to realize that all 
this effort to be well, this effort to keep fit as a 
reasonable service to one’s fellow men and to one’s 
God, has been made possible in the Christian world 
through the strength which really comes by the 


THE WILL TO BE WELL 


15 


Holy Spirit, and by the example of Jesus Christ, 
who overcame temptation and crucified the flesh 
in order that his spirit might be free. 

Application. —The fifteen Study Topics suggest so 
many tests for the body and its members that “the 
will to be well” finds its application in the answers 
to each one of the questions. 

Activity .—The Study Topics will be answered in 
the notebooks. Also the points made under the 
memory quotation may be placed in the notebooks, 
if the lists are satisfactorily made out during reci¬ 
tation. 

The notebook should also contain if possible a 
brief story of Roosevelt. Possibly one pupil can 
bring in the material and dictate to the other mem¬ 
bers of the class that which is most important to 
be preserved as notes. 

It may be worth while to add suggestions that 
have helped the older members of the family at 
home in keeping well. The father may have exer¬ 
cises (see Walter Camp’s Daily Dozen). The mother 
may have exercises which help her; and even in 
the nursery there may be little exercises which the 
babies and younger brothers and sisters use to make 
them stronger and better fit. These suggestions 
may all be put into the notebook for further refer¬ 
ence. While hearing them talked about in class is 
interesting, yet, if their interest is to be permanent, 
the notebook will save them for further reference. 
Plans may be made for individual projects by 
members of the class to practice such living as will 
favor physical fitness. 

Assignment. —Look ahead and make your plans. 
Expect your class to prepare. Give definite direc¬ 
tions and some individual assignments. 


i6 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Books for Reference 

Theodore Roosevelt: An Intimate Biography , Thayer. 

Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Roosevelt’s Religion , Reisner. The Abingdon Press. 
Control of Body and Mind , Jewett. Ginn & Com¬ 
pany. 


CHAPTER III 


HEADS AND HEELS 

Tennyson says: “Knowledge comes, but wisdom 
lingers.” We may add that knowledge of physical 
health is a step forward, but until we have instruc¬ 
tion which shall build up and strengthen our minds 
and souls, our knowledge of physical laws will not 
end in happiness. 

Aim. —Our aim in this chapter of “Heads and 
Heels” is to engage the class in thinking concern¬ 
ing the training of their higher nature, both mental 
and moral, and here, as always, to put into practice. 

Our text states that “He that heareth reproof 
getteth understanding” as well as, “He that refuseth 
instruction despiseth his own soul.” This proverb, 
which would train us into finer and higher mental 
and moral habits, is what makes it possible for us 
to say with Browning, “The best is yet to be.” 
Every day we are growing older and if only our 
heads equal our heels, our minds will be equally 
developing along with our bodies. 

Centers of stress. —The text of this chapter 
offers much for discussion, not only in connection 
with the introductory paragraphs which lead up 
to the definition of “growth,” which must be of two 
sorts in order that body and brain may make a 
perfect “team,” but with the special suggestions 
introduced under the paragraph called “The school 
bell rings.” The class is asked to picture the whole 
educational problem from the kindergarten through 


i8 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


the college and professional schools. Much time 
may be spent on this paragraph, and under applica¬ 
tion and activity the details may be explained. 
Again stress should be made (the greatest stress 
in fact) upon the obedience of Jesus Christ in that 
lovely Jewish home where he as a boy obeyed the 
laws of Moses both in his private life and public 
worship. A special topic should be given to a 
member of the class which might be called “ Going 
to school in Nazareth.” Geikie’s Life of Christ 
pictures this daily routine most delightfully. An¬ 
other special topic should be the whole poem entitled 
“The Law of the Jungle,” by Kipling. Each mem¬ 
ber of the class should commit to memory the 
lines which are applicable to living together obedi¬ 
ently for the good of “the pack.” 

Application.—Here, again, the Study Topics are 
very important. There are but twelve tests offered, 
but they should lead to a dozen more interesting 
mental and moral tests. Moreover, as we study 
these topics it would be well to see where the mental 
and the moral unite and where they are each separate 
habits with no special relationship to each other. 
The memory quotation, which contains philosophy 
for an older member of society, does hold within 
it a challenge of encouragement to youth. “Our 
times are in His hands,” and the thought that 
though youth can show but half, if he trusts God 
and is never a coward, life will open up to him. 

Activities.—The Study Topics are to be entered 
in notebooks. The poem may be explained or 
paraphrased into a little essay which will give 
courage to boys and girls. A summary of the two 
important topics may be entered in the notebook. 
Special personal lists of their own tests of their heels 


HEADS AND HEELS 


19 


and their heads may be entered in the notebook. 
The special quotation from Kipling may be copied 
also. Remember also that character grows by 
the expression, or putting into practice, of the 
virtues desired. Hence consider the possibility of 
planning with your class how to make definite 
personal use of the lessons taught by carrying them 
over into daily conduct. 

Assignment. —The next lesson affords oppor¬ 
tunity for definite assignment of some “good- 
neighbor” thinking, perhaps investigating, or the 
working out of projects or problems. Be sure to 
make a careful assignment of such work and activ¬ 
ities as are best suited to your class and their 
environment. 


Books for Reference 

Law of the Jungle and Other Poems , Kipling. Double¬ 
day, Page & Company. 

Social Service and the Art of Healing , Cabot. Moffat, 
Yard & Company. 

The Science of Mental Healing , Eaton. The Abing¬ 
don Press. 


CHAPTER IV 


HAVE A HEART 

Growing up and having a will to be well and 
making our head save our heels give us a fairly 
good working organization in which we may carry 
on our daily routine of duty and pleasure. But, 
after all, “out of the heart are the issues of life.” 
If we weren’t filled with love and sympathy at 
times for our fellow-men; if out of our hearts there 
came not a love of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, 
somehow or other physical health and mental and 
moral habits would lose their zest. 

Aim.—Therefore the aim of this chapter is to 
bring before the pupils that you must think “of 
the good of your neighbor for your neighbor’s 
sake,” and thereby to make the boys and girls better 
neighbors here and now. 

Above the noise of selfish strife and again in 
“haunts of wretchedness and need” we find a chal¬ 
lenge. The author, Dr. Frank Mason North, from 
whom we quote, makes us realize that the voice 
of the Master is calling us into this larger activity 
of good will toward men, of peace on earth. 

Centers of Stress. —The whole chapter findsits high¬ 
est purpose in presenting the example of Jesus Christ 
in his life in the city and his life in the country. 
Whether he was at work in Nazareth as a young car¬ 
penter or in the fields searching for inspiration from 
God’s creation, his heart was alive to the beauties of 
the lilies or the friendship of men and women. 

20 


HAVE A HEART 


21 


Procedure. —The Study Topics are so closely 
related to the general text that it might be well 
to introduce the topics at the very time we are 
talking about the animals—the paragraphs at the 
outset of the lesson, omitting the fifth topic until 
we make a study of the Memory Quotation. 

The paragraphs which dwell upon wild and tame 
animals will give rise to much discussion; and we 
believe it would be well for the teacher to allow 
many anecdotes to be told in class, in order that 
a more sensitive feeling both for wild animals and 
domestic pets may be created. 

Where the lesson moves on into the higher levels 
under the title “Beyond Instinct,” discussion does 
not enter in. This is where we believe the teacher 
should set forth even more fully than the text the 
beauty that surrounded Jesus and the miraculous 
way in which he felt that beauty, so inspiring . 

Application. —Very likely the children belong to 
the Audubon Society, or they know something of 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani¬ 
mals. Special topics of like nature may be assigned 
to different members of the class who have access 
to books in their homes and libraries. The world 
would be a better place to live in if boys and girls 
could be taught to treat animals more kindly; and 
if this kindness should be established, we feel quite 
sure kindness to human beings would follow. When 
the example of Jesus Christ is followed by every 
one as we come and go in our city life or wander 
out into the hillsides for rest, recreation, and in¬ 
spiration, we shall be ready to do away with the 
cruelty of war between nations as well as arriving 
at the prophecy, “The wolf shall dwell with the 
lamb, . . . and a little child shall lead them,” 


22 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Then will the text at the close of the chapter 
come true: Proverbs 3. 13. 

Activities. —The Study Topics will be written in 
the notebooks. So, too, the special topics. The 
discussion of the poem should be set up in the 
notes. Pictures of Jerusalem and Nazareth might 
be brought into class by the teacher; and the pupils, 
if possible, might bring in famous pictures of ani¬ 
mals, like Landseer’s pictures of dogs. The prize 
story of “Black Beauty” may be referred to, and 
some child may be able to tell the story of Black 
Beauty, or at least portions of it. Other stories may 
be used to illuminate this particular chapter. 

Assignment. —Keep up the practice of knowing 
your lesson a week ahead, and of planning how to 
make such assignment of work as will appeal to 
the sense of personal responsibility and class loyalty 
and pride. Remember that the pupils must do some 
independent, effective work for themselves if the 
course is to be a success for them. 

Books for Reference 

The Manhood of the Master , Fosdick. Association 
Press. 

Red Cross Magazine. See Pool’s Index for back 
numbers. Houghton Mifflin Company. 

The Master , Johnston. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER V 


THE DOCTOR-PREACHER 

With John the Baptist as an example of a mighty 
preacher, the teacher may introduce in this chapter, 
“The Doctor-Preacher,” something more concern¬ 
ing the mighty man whose pathetic figure in a 
coarse, hairy robe was seen wandering on the fast¬ 
nesses of the hills or through the desolate wilderness 
of the Dead Sea in his lonely hours. As he said, 
he was “but a voice in the wilderness,” seeking 
nothing for himself. There is something very 
tragic about John the Baptist which may be spoken 
of in passing. The contrast between the work 
accomplished by Jesus Christ and that attempted 
by John is very striking. John is never the central 
figure of the great story. He is the last of the 
long line of prophets in the story of Israel’s past 
chronicles. He came to declare the divine will and 
to prophesy the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The preparation of these two great figures in 
the drama of the first century was altogether 
different. Jesus Christ, who was to work with his 
fellow men and preach the gospel of the brother¬ 
hood of man, was brought up in a city full of tempta¬ 
tions; whereas John the Baptist was a hermit in 
the wilderness, far from the noise and temptations 
of men. He denied himself all lawful comforts. 
He fasted and clothed himself in hair-cloth, feeding 
on the food of locusts and wild honey, and all the 
time that he meditated on the ancient prophets 

23 


24 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


or denounced the sins of the world, the flesh and 
the devil (which he knew existed throughout the 
great Roman Empire), he was dreaming of the king¬ 
dom of God which should be fulfilled when Emman¬ 
uel, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, should appear. 

Aim.—The aim of this chapter is to show the stu¬ 
dents that Jesus Christ worked among people, just 
as we ourselves may work in our community with 
our neighbors. His first effort often had to take the 
form of curing some particular man of a bad disease 
in order that he might catch that man’s attention 
and bring to him the gospel—bring to him the living 
reality that in our heavenly Father lies all healing 
and all blessedness. 

Centers of stress. —Our first emphasis must lie 
in the realization that Jesus Christ did not come 
to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He was no 
revolutionist. The paragraph entitled “Learning 
to Live with Nature” explains in part what the au¬ 
thors wish to present; that all science is a kind of Chris¬ 
tianity; that in order for us to get on with nature we 
must study nature’s ways and use her mighty forces 
instead of fighting these mighty forces. Nature and 
the God of nature can be made our friends. 

A second center of stress is the realization that 
always throughout ancient history the Jewish code 
of health has been the most important. The teacher 
of this chapter may well bring into class a “Life 
of Jesus” which shall contain a list of the laws for 
diet and cleanliness and for physical and moral 
health which all Jewish children were taught when 
they were no older than six years of age. 

As a special topic, Longfellow’s poem, “The Golden 
Legend,” will give a picture of the little Jesus, the car¬ 
penter’s son, studying in the schools of Nazareth. 


THE DOCTOR-PREACHER 


25 


Curiously enough, although the Greeks and 
Romans cared for beautiful bodies and for athletic 
sports, they never gave the same attention to the 
laws of health as did the Jews. Our emphasis, 
then, should be placed upon the ancient Hebrew 
institution of both public and private health. 

Procedure. —Throughout this lesson an appeal 
to memory as well as to imagination should take 
place. Already in the public schools the pupils have 
studied Greek and Roman stories, and it will be 
possible to draw from the class much information 
already acquired. The teacher will use pictures 
and as far as possible correlate the already acquired 
knowledge with the text of the chapter. 

The second verse of the “Memory Quotation” is 
provocative of what we can do in the name of 
practical Christianity—how we can start Christ’s 
kingdom on earth by restoring health to one person 
through advising him to see the best kind of a 
doctor, or urging some particular case of deafness or 
of blindness to visit the school for the blind or the 
school for the deaf. 

“Fields are white and harvests waiting.” Every¬ 
where there are men and women and little children 
who need to be helped to find a way out from their 
sickness of mind, from their worries and mental 
anxieties; and just as Jesus healed one person at 
a time of one illness, so we can “take the tasks 
he gives us, gladly” and let his work be our pleasure. 

The class should catch the inspiration of this 
discussion and be ready to answer quickly, “Here 
am I! Send me! Send me!” 

Application. —This world of opportunity which 
was on all sides of Jesus Christ appealed to him 
just as our social opportunity to-day appeals to 


26 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


the students who go to college settlements or social 
headquarters to work with those who have had 
less opportunity, and who turn to such headquarters 
for advice and for friendship. Nothing that Jesus 
Christ learned in his home as a child failed to be 
of use to him. What he studied in the school as 
laws of mental and spiritual help he practiced when 
he went forth to fulfill the will of God. In the few 
questions under Study Topics an analogy is made 
between the gladness and joy which Jesus brought 
into the homes of the sick and the dying and the 
relief brought to the sufferer through the work of 
the Red Cross. The teacher may well dwell upon 
this wonderful work and special topics be assigned 
for the pupils to report upon. The Red-Cross nurse 
is not only busy in war times but in peace times. 
There are floods and conflagrations, plagues and 
scourges; the calamities which come from a volcanic 
eruption or from a tidal wave again and again in 
history have demanded the work of the nurse of 
the Red Cross. 

There are other men besides the great Pasteur 
—whose hundredth anniversary was celebrated in 
1922—who have shown their Christlikeness. A list 
of great physicians and biologists and chemists 
might be made by the class to illustrate the fact 
that these men have lived lives patterned after that 
of their Master. 

The eleventh question is very important. It 
should not only be a question for information but 
it should have immediate application. Each mem¬ 
ber of the class may assume a service of comfort 
for the following Saturday and Sunday—some 
little thing either in the home or in the commu¬ 
nity. And all the time that this service is being 


THE DOCTOR-PREACHER 


27 


carried out the individual may well be singing in 
his heart the text for the week, “And Jesus went 
about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, and 
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing 
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease 
among the people. ” 

Activities.—As we discuss the ninth and tenth 
points under Study Topics, it will be well to insert 
the lists in the notebook; also the names of the 
people suggested under the first half of the eighth. 

A story of a Red-Cross nurse may be asked for 
by the teacher, and the best story from the mem¬ 
bers of the class may be accepted and copied by the 
others for the notebook. Or a “consolidated story” 
might be put together and inserted in the note¬ 
book. We mean by a consolidated story, that if 
three or four of the students write fairly good 
stories, the child who has an editorial ability may 
weave the three or four stories together into one 
first-class piece of work and that may be copied 
into the notebook. The notebook should be looked 
upon as very sacred. Nothing should he inserted 
that is not well done. That is why we suggest some¬ 
times a story being composite. The teacher her¬ 
self may sometimes make the composite story 
especially if it deals with the life of Christ, that 
it may be done in the most dignified way. 

This chapter lends itself to the use of many 
pictures and a collection of pictures of the institu¬ 
tions and hospitals in the town will offer a com¬ 
munity interest for everyone. 

Assignment. —Study the advance lesson to deter¬ 
mine the most fruitful method of assigning to 
bring every member of the class into action and 
prepare for a good class hour at the next meeting. 


28 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Give individual members something definite and 
personal to do and report upon or in some way 
contribute to the class. 

Books for Reference 

Great Characters of the Old Testament , Rogers. The 
Abingdon Press. 

This Mind , McDowell. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE BORN LEADER 

The “Memory Quotation” challenges the class. 

“Dare to be right! Dare to be true! 

You have a work that no other can do.” 

At the very outset the leadership of Jesus Christ 
is pictured. The teacher should emphasize that 
the life worth living is the one lived for the general 
welfare of society. This sense of personal respon¬ 
sibility for the common welfare makes it necessary 
for us to examine the character and the ethical 
and social qualities as well as the mental equip¬ 
ment of those persons who wish to take part in 
active service. It is well to discuss who are those 
who have been acknowledged fitted for a life of 
service already in our community; what their 
contributions have been which give them the de¬ 
served names of “born leaders.” 

Aim. —The aim of this chapter is to develop an 
ideal of leadership that will last. This ideal has 
been fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. He has 
set us the example and he has chosen us to be his 
agents. The important purpose of the chapter is that 
we must bear witness because he has chosen us to be 
his agents, because he has asked us to do his work. 

Centers of stress. —The teacher may well point 
out in Christ’s leadership the fact that he was 
simple. As he preached the gospel he avoided 
pedantry. He used the language of his day. He 

29 


30 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


spoke in parables, a method acceptable and in 
current custom with the common people to whom 
he talked. He communed with God and he him¬ 
self speaks “as one who hath authority, and not 
as the scribes.” Moreover, he practiced his doc¬ 
trine. He practiced what he preached. 

Thus the human leadership of Jesus Christ may 
well be summed up in the three verbs “To be,” 
“To do,” “To achieve.” He was one with au¬ 
thority. He did practice and he could achieve, 
healing the sick, removing sins and temptations 
from suffering souls because of his absolute com¬ 
munion with God. 

Procedure. —Every paragraph of this chapter 
will lead to discussion. The wholesome boy’s life 
which Jesus knew in the out-of-door touch with 
nature is set off against the artificiality and eco¬ 
nomic pressure of the great trafficking city of Naz¬ 
areth. That will take the members of the class 
into their own daily lives and show that even in 
coming from and going to school, though they pass 
through crowded city streets, they may catch 
inspiration from lovely pictures in shop windows, 
the joy of flowers at the florist’s, or the uplifting 
strains of music that may come from the band that 
is playing in the park. 

Under “Courage and Sensitiveness” the teacher 
will be able to draw out from the class much that 
is very personal. The discussion of imagination 
will take the class a long way from the pages of 
the text. And to-day, when our new psychologists 
tell us that “the will is dependent upon the imag¬ 
ination,” and that “he who wills to believe must 
first see a vision before he will act,” will find much 
to interest the class in this thought. 


THE BORN LEADER 


31 

Under the “leadership that lasts* ’ there is 
much to talk about. Our scientific investigation 
and scientific treatment of disease throughout the 
world will lead the class into avenues of great in¬ 
terest. Many special topics can be given which 
will make a survey of the splendid work of public 
health being carried out throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. 

“Stand by your conscience, your honor, your faith: 

Stand like a hero and battle till death.” 

This couplet is what has made possible the story 
of the fight put up by the followers of Jesus Christ 
who have fought fevers and devils in the shape 
of epilepsy and insanity and drunkenness. The 
Eighteenth Amendment is an example of a whole 
nation standing by their conscience, their honor, 
and their faith that the right thing for the country 
to do was to pass the Volstead Act. 

Application. —Here are ten important qualities 
of leadership, not only important for the football 
gridiron but for the work which is to be carried 
on in our struggle for righteousness in every line of 
action. 

1. Eagerness. 5. System. 

2. Earnestness. 6. Order. 

3. Will-power. 7. Imagination. 

4. Physical, mental, and 8. Responsibility. 

spiritual endurance. 9. Unselfishness. 

10. Sacrifice. 

The question comes, How are these qualities of 
leadership to be developed? There are three forms 
of cultivation most essential. We would suggest 
that the class think out these qualities of leader¬ 
ship for themselves. 1. Training the body to work. 


32 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


2. Training the body to withstand temptations that 
injure the body, mind, and soul. 3. Training the 
mind to think, and to think and see its way 
through. 

The second cultivation should be of the feelings. 
1. Our ability to control the lower instincts and 
emotions. 2. The expansion of our higher emo¬ 
tions: sympathy, love of fellow men, devotion to 
duty, and development of altruism. 

Third, our cultivation of the spirit. 1. By prayer 
to God. 2. Communion with God. 3. Worship. 

These suggestions for leadership will fit into the 
answers under the Study Topics. 

Activities.—The Study Topics may be entered in 
the notebook. Not only should the story of Father 
Damien be looked up and copied, but, if possible, 
other famous workers in the field of health may 
be inserted in the notebooks. “Waring in Cuba” 
offers a splendid story; Florence Nightingale, Edith 
Cavell, and so many other characters whom the 
teacher may think of in her community who have 
served in the same way if not in so public a manner. 

The text for the day is a very lovely one: “The 
sheep hear his voice; . . . the sheep follow him: for 
they know his voice.” This emphasis upon the 
spiritual voice may be discussed, and the thoughts 
of the pupils, as they interpret what this means to 
them, may be entered as something specially note¬ 
worthy in their notebooks. 

Assignment.—Keep it up. Even if not all the 
class carry out their parts or do the work assigned, 
do not despair. Kindly, expectantly, insistently 
keep assigning and urging. Be sure to assign wisely, 
definitely, clearly. Then call for and use in the 
next lesson what you have assigned. 


THE BORN LEADER 
Books for Reference 


33 


Father Damien. See Pool’s Index for magazine 
articles. Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Jesus’ Ideals of Living , Fiske. The Abingdon Press. 

Leaflets from Interstate Character Education Ref¬ 
erence Research, Fairchild. Chevy Chase, Wash' 
ington, D. C. 


CHAPTER VII 


HEALTH AND HEAVEN 

The climax of the work of this chapter lies in the 
question under the Study Topics. In the twelfth 
question we ask, “Is it just as important for the 
nation to have men and women of strong body 
in times of peace as in times of war? Are you 
building your body so you might pass for service?” 

Aim.—The first step that the teacher should take 
is the presentation of the amazing fact that our 
democracy, up to the present day, has failed in 
establishing health laws which shall preserve so¬ 
ciety. Under “Centers of Stress” we shall discuss 
this more fully. 

Another aim of the chapter is to present to the 
pupils the courage of the gospel; the “good news” 
that was brought by Jesus Christ not only to his 
own immediate circle of friends, but to all man¬ 
kind. Moreover, this good news had in it such 
active service that a new commandment could be 
evolved from it. The new way set forth by Jesus 
was to do things. Our purpose, therefore, is to set 
this gospel way of “do’s” before the members of 
the class. And, lastly—in fact, the third aim of 
our chapter is most important—is the thought 
that the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of Love, or the 
Spirit of Truth, whichever way we decide to call 
the Comforter, has been at work slowly but surely 
ever since the day of Pentecost. 

Centers of stress. —Every fourth man who came 

34 


HEALTH AND HEAVEN 


35 


up for examination, we say under the paragraph 
called “Physically unprepared,” was found physically 
unfit to take part in the war to save the world for 
democracy. Some time should be spent by the 
teachers in emphasizing this point. We would 
suggest that data be procured from Washington 
or from the Public Library which will set forth this 
shocking condition of a country that prides itself 
upon its education and its recreation. Moreover, 
as the discussion proves of interest to the members 
of the class, there will naturally follow the thought 
of the possibilities of a selective draft for service 
in the times of peace. Why not? Why should not 
both men and women between the ages of eighteen 
and twenty-two give a year to their country for 
Red-Cross work, or for Baby Welfare, or some 
other great peace endeavor to make our world 
“safe for democracy”? 

Our text for the day tells us that three millions 
of our people in the United States are sick every 
day. Why are they sick? The word “health” 
includes the whole of man. It means his whole¬ 
ness, and also his holiness of body. How comes it 
that so many are ill? Aside from diseases which 
have been handed down from generation to genera¬ 
tion through ignorance and sin, there are very 
important causes for diseases and illness. Dust¬ 
laden and germ-laden streets and public buildings; 
bad housing; improper food and unnutritious food; 
the death rate from flies; or if not a death rate, the 
awful scourge that comes from diseases like in¬ 
fantile paralysis, tuberculosis, influenza, typhoid 
fever, scarlet fever, measles. We could enumerate 
a long, long list of diseases that daily visit the 
homes of rich and poor, wise and foolish. These 


3^ 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


diseases might all, or nearly all, be prevented. The 
discussion should center around this thought of 
prevention. 

Again, another center of stress is the discussion 
of the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Saint 
Matthew, those memorable chapters that make 
up the Sermon on the Mount. After the discussion 
of these immortal chapters, the Bible should be 
opened and the tenth chapter of Exodus read aloud 
to show wherein Jesus Christ did add his own gospel 
of good cheer to those early sacred Command¬ 
ments which were given through inspiration to 
Moses concerning the health of the Israelites as 
they came up out of Egypt and found their way 
into the wilderness. 

The third center of stress should lie in the author¬ 
itative word of Jesus, when he announces that his 
disciples have not chosen him, but have been chosen 
and ordained by him to bring forth the fruit of 
clean bodies and minds and souls, together with 
the promise that if the disciples do abide in him 
as the branches of the vine, so he will strengthen 
them to bring forth much fruit. 

Procedure.—Perhaps no chapter has offered so 
many points for discussion as this concerning 
“Health and Heaven.” No chapter has dwelt so 
insistently upon the leadership of Jesus and referred 
so continuously to his personal actions as well as 
quoting his words of authority. The teachers of 
the text will be able to draw out from the class 
the more intimate ideas of the members, especially 
in connection with “The New Commandment” and 
“The Comforter.” 

Application.—Because our bodies are the taber¬ 
nacle of the soul it is possible for the teachers to 


HEALTH AND HEAVEN 


37 


present the thought that Jesus, who went about 
healing the sick, was emphasizing the sacredness of 
this tabernacle. The little poem by Mr. Sharp has 
in it a prayer: 

“Give me the strength that keeps thee green, 

The grace that gives thee song.” 

As the members of the class commit this happy 
couplet to memory it is wise to bring before them 
the desire which is almost a prayer. This will 
make it possible for the teacher to speak of prayers 
and to urge that prayers should be said to ask for 
strength to take care of our bodies and to honor 
our bodies. Many physicians speak of our bodies 
as machines. A doctor will tell you that a good 
automobile must be kept in first-class repair, that 
the engine must not be worn out, and that all the 
parts need constant attention. For a day and 
generation when the automobile is all-important 
this figure of speech or this parable conveys great 
weight. Older men are convinced by it and chil¬ 
dren see through it. But there is nothing sacred 
about the automobile; and although the teacher 
uses it as an interesting illustration, we believe that 
the class should be made to see that human physical 
laws are just as sacred as spiritual laws; that they 
emanate from the same Lawgiver, and that right¬ 
eousness includes obedience to these laws; that sin 
is the transgressing of these laws. 

Activities. —As usual the answers to the Study 
Topics will be entered in the notebook. We would 
suggest that the Sermon on the Mount be para¬ 
phrased and entered also, together with the twen¬ 
tieth chapter of Exodus. The paraphrasing may be 
very brief, possibly not more than a page and a 


3 « 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


half of the thoughts of the Sermon on the Mount 
and another half page for the commandments given 
to Moses. The text for the day from Matthew 
io. 7, 8 challenges the thought of what is going 
on in the community. It would be possible to 
enumerate the activities in the town or city in 
which the members live. 

Assignment. —The next lesson gives opportunity 
for very interesting and very definite individual 
assignments. Of course each one will first read the 
chapter. Then different ones can be asked to look 
up facts about local quarantine regulations, disease 
prevalence, protective measures, etc. 

Books for Reference 

Reports from the United States War Department 
(1917-1918), Washington, D. C. 

Christ in Everyday Life , Bosworth. Association 
Press. 


CHAPTER VIII 


“THE CARD ON THE HOUSE” 

How few of our younger generation realize that 
less than fifty years ago it would have been im¬ 
possible to see the “Card on the House” which is 
the telltale method to-day of announcing to the 
world that some one behind the closed doors is 
suffering from an illness which may menace the 
community. 

Science has made great strides in life-saving and 
almost all the strides have been taken within a 
hundred years. This chapter is brief in text, but if 
the teacher knows much of modern science, espe¬ 
cially in relation to public health, it will be possible 
to make the chapter a very full one and present 
perhaps to the members of the class thoughts 
which will be abiding. 

Aim. —In fact, the purpose of this whole chapter 
is to challenge the teacher and class to secure 
scientific data that will not only possibly surprise 
the young boys and girls of her class, but give val¬ 
uable information which they may carry home and 
act upon as occasion arises. 

The story of what has been accomplished for 
the prevention of disease, not only in homes but in 
schools and whole communities, ought to be in¬ 
valuable. 

Centers of stress. —The paragraph reading, “Our 
value as persons is measured by just how far we 
Can take our part as living, sharing, working mem- 

39 


40 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


bers of our home, school, or community,” offers our 
first center of stress. The second center culminates 
in the thought that God is working through nature and 
that as fast as scientific investigators can discover the 
truth about nature, they find out that nature herself 
is working together for good because of those who 
loving God are trying to serve their fellow men. 

Procedure. —As we have implied, much of this 
chapter lies between the lines of the text. How to 
proceed will depend upon how much general infor¬ 
mation the teacher has in connection with public 
health. We would suggest that the teacher and 
class procure texts on hygiene and write to the 
Board of Health in their town or city for the latest 
pamphlets which will show what is being done 
at large. Then, too, the investigation may go 
farther. The teacher or a member of the class may 
write to the National Board of Health and to the 
Industrial Board to see what is being done for the 
health of laborers, especially concerning women 
and children. Special topics can be given to the 
students in the class. Very likely some of the chil¬ 
dren belong to families where the father is inter¬ 
ested in public health. I recall as I write the story 
of a silent little boy in the sixth grade of a great 
public school. I was supervising civics in the 
school and the afternoon had brought us to “Munic¬ 
ipal Health.” The question of garbage arose. The 
little girl with a pink bow on the top of her head 
asked the meaning of “garbage.” Instantly the 
silent boy arose. “I know more about garbage than 
anybody in this room. My father drives the gar¬ 
bage cart. I can tell you all about it.” The story 
is applicable. Every child is proud of father’s work 
or Uncle Jim’s or Aunt Martha’s, 


“THE CARD ON THE HOUSE” 


4i 


Application. —Fight the good fight with all thy 
might! or, “Run the straight race through God’s 
good grace!” Over and over again we must chal¬ 
lenge these children to demonstrate in the twen¬ 
tieth century the theories which we older people 
have worked out in the nineteenth and beginning 
of the twentieth centuries. All our preachment and 
all our theories and all our science will go for nought 
unless we can buckle on the armor to this younger 
generation. We do not know just how we are 
going to do it, but we do know that it is only through 
the grace of God that we can run the straight race 
or fight the good fight. By hook or by crook we 
have got to teach these children two things: To 
“Lay hold on life,” and to “Lift up their eyes and 
seek God’s face.” 

This helping to bring the kingdom of heaven to 
pass through the ministry of preventive treatment 
must begin with the individual boy and girl. We 
know that the Roman Catholic priest says that 
if he has a child the first nine years of his life, he 
is sure to make him a good Roman Catholic. Our 
whole problem is to make these boys and girls in 
the adolescent period fight the good fight of moral 
and physical health for themselves and for their 
contemporaries. 

Activities. —The thirteen Study Topics which 
follow this lesson cover a good deal of material. 
It might take too long to write all the answers in 
the notebooks. We would suggest that very brief 
answers be given to such ethical questions as are 
suggested by 2, 3, and xi. As a special topic, the 
life of Buddha may be paraphrased for the note¬ 
book, and if it is possible to find some of the articles 
set forth in the Code of Ethics which commemorates 


42 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


the thoughts of Confucius, it would be well to enter 
these. 

The text may be developed along the lines of our 
relation to the family and to the school and to 
society at large. A list of the great number of 
people who serve us each day, from the moment 
we arise until we go to bed at night, will make a 
list worth saving on the pages of the notebook. 

Assignment.—It is possible to make the next 
lesson a very interesting, personal, and practical one. 
Let the teacher study the chapter and study her 
class, and then make such assignment of study and 
activities as will bring sure and effective results 
from personal effort applied. 

Books for Reference 

Sesame and Lilies, Ruskin. Houghton Mifflin Com¬ 
pany. 

Social Service and the Art oj Healing , Cabot. Moffat, 
Yard & Company. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE COATED TONGUE 

The older generation was educated to believe 
that silence was golden while speech was but silver. 
Then, again, we remember the fine old fairy story 
of the princess who, when she spoke, dropped 
pearls from her mouth; while her sister, with her 
irritable temper, saw toads and lizards follow her 
speech. In this day of telephones and wireless and 
radio and victrolas and, above all else, the language 
that belongs to the street, there is good cause, we 
believe, to call the attention of our young people 
to the use of pure, fine, apt words of the English 
language, a language as the text defines it under 
“Words Fitly Spoken/ 5 “One of the most powerful 
and beautiful languages in the world. 55 

Aim.—The high inspiration of Frances Havergal’s 
“Lord, speak to me, that I may speak, 55 may be 
used as the challenge for the work to be done in 
relation to this chapter and the principles to be 
carried out in everyday practice. If we are to 
teach the precious things that the Lord Jesus Christ 
asked his disciples to teach as they went forth 
amongst the Jews and Gentiles, we must, as the 
Memory Quotation expresses it: “Wing our words 
that they may reach the hidden depths of many a 
heart. 55 

The Study Topics in this chapter as well as the 
verses of the poem are meant to challenge the class. 
The text, “Never man spake like this man, 55 takes 

43 


44 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


us upon the heights of imagination as we think of 
the deep meaning of Jesus Christ’s speech, a speech 
which is so fraught with the mystery of divine inspi¬ 
ration that Christian poets and philosophers have 
never been able to quite explain the power of his 
plain, earnest, simple utterances. 

Centers of stress. —A discussion of the “King’s 
English” should engross the interest of the class 
at the outset. This should lead to the question of 
why such care should be taken that words be fitly 
spoken; and take us over into the second center 
of stress, which is the discussion of our great English 
and American authors, statesmen, and generals who 
have used the English language not only to advan¬ 
tage but with oratorical inspiration. Lastly and 
most important is the third center of stress—what 
Jesus talked about and the language that he used. 
The typical sayings which are quoted on page 61 
are but a few of the many quotations which it 
would be well for the class to have brought before 
their minds. The use of parables should be explained 
carefully, and the need of using parables to-day 
as we come and go among the many newly arrived 
immigrants who are being Americanized. They 
come from the Far East where parables are still 
used, especially by the Assyrians and Jews of Asia 
Minor. 

Procedure. —The text tells us that young Edward 
Bok’s use of vivid English brought to him, when 
he first came to this country, much courtesy and 
friendship with the great American authors of a 
quarter of a century ago. Discuss with the class 
other men and women of note who have made 
their way into literary circles of the United States 
through the study of pure English. Perhaps the 



THE COATED TONGUE 


45 


familiar story of Abraham Lincoln and his con¬ 
tinuous and continual interest in acquiring good 
English will be of added force in this particular 
chapter. When we think of the boy studying be¬ 
fore the open fire in the old Kentucky home and 
the immortal utterances which were his in the 
memorial services at Gettysburg, we realize what 
one youth and man can do in perfecting the use 
of the English language. 

The paragraphs, one after another, which dis¬ 
cuss what Jesus talked about and how he talked, 
should give rise to much informal discussion of the 
beauty of Christ’s utterances. If it is possible for 
the teacher to own an edition of the Bible which 
has all the sayings of Jesus printed in red, this is 
a chapter where such a text is invaluable. On the 
pages of the black print these words appearing in 
red stand out and burn into the very sight and 
heart of the reader. Our Lord and Master said 
so few words, but oh, they are so deep-rooted in 
the heart of society! After two thousand years 
they always seem new. Each student in the class 
will have favorite expressions. One boy will think 
of the story of the prodigal son and quote the lines 
of joy in the heart of the father. Some girl will 
think of the story of the woman of Samaria and 
remember what Christ said to her; while a third 
will remember the words on the cross as Christ 
promised the robber the peace of paradise. 

Application. —Under the Study Topics the sixth 
question demands not only an investigation of 
one’s personal language in the home, in the school 
and on the playground, but it offers an opportunity 
for the teacher to plan a campaign for purer speech 
in the everyday life of the students. A blue-ribbon 


46 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


prize might be applicable at the end of a week for 
the boys and girls who have been able to forego 
“poor” slang and “jazz” talk, in place of which 
has followed the acquisition of new words fitly used 
to take the place of the old street terms bounded by 
“sure,” “gee,” and “a peach,” and “a scream.” 

Activities.—The answers to the Study Topics 
will be entered in the notebooks. The acquisition 
of the new words may also be entered. We would 
suggest that five or six quotations, brief but beau¬ 
tiful, chosen from the authors who have come up 
under this discussion, shall be engrossed into the 
notebook. Possibly one student will bring in one 
quotation and another student another, and so on 
until each member of the class has given the line 
or two lines to be quoted to each other and then 
all the quotations should be put into the notebooks. 

Assignment.—The next chapter opens up a line 
of thought new to many boys and girls. Take 
time in this period to introduce the topic in a way 
to stimulate interest and induce the “problem” 
attitude of mind on the part of your students. 
Suggest definite things for them to do in preparing 
the lesson. 


Books for Reference 

The Literary Primacy of the Bible , Eckman. The 
Methodist Book Concern. 

Control of Body and Mind , Jewett. Ginn & Com¬ 
pany. 

Americanization of Edward Bok, Bok. Charles 
Scribner’s Sons. 




CHAPTER X 


WHO ARE YOU? 

There is no question but this chapter will arouse 
interest and discussion. The age of the students 
is the age of adolescence, the age of the growing 
ego where boys and girls are shy yet bold, hiding 
their personality yet longing to express it. The 
teachers of this chapter must be wise as they ap¬ 
proach the personality of any one member of the 
class. 

Aim. —Perhaps the day’s text itself expresses the 
purpose of the chapter: “Watch ye, stand fast in 
the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” And 
along with those wonderful words of Saint Paul 
is the last commanding challenge: 

“Think! What is your niche in the mind of the boy 
Who met you yesterday, 

Figured you out, and labeled you 
And carefully filed you away?” 

In other words, there is a twofold purpose. One 
is to challenge the character and personality of 
each member to know himself and the other is to 
think how we are to be known by others as we 
come and go among our fellow men. 

Centers of stress. —A discussion of one’s person¬ 
ality and the fidelity which should lie back of all 
personality are the two points of attack in this 
chapter. One must develop oneself to the utter¬ 
most; but at the same time personal physical 

47 


4 8 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


health would have no value in it unless social health 
expressed wholesome friendships. 

Procedure. —The discussion of the first and 
second “you” will take much time, while the topic, 
“the real you,” will lead to mental photographs and 
character analysis. 

The Memory Quotation is worth much discus¬ 
sion. Every verse has its attack upon the per¬ 
sonality of each one of us. 

Application. —“Am I on the list as one to respect?” 
“The things I said, were they those that stick?” 
“The story I told, did I tell it my best?” And, 
again, 

“Did you mean right down in your heart of hearts 
The things that you then expressed?” 

The application of these far-reaching questions 
will engage the class and bring straight home to 
their minds and hearts the value of personality. 
The paragraph entitled “Time Out” is worth much 
discussion because all of us, for the most part, go 
through an ebb and flow of health. Some years 
we are stronger and better than others, and it is 
worth while to realize that invalids can do splendid 
work in the world as did Darwin. Even if our vi¬ 
tality slips away from us for the time being, our per¬ 
sonality need not seem to suffer, and it is well to 
dwell upon this thought: yet so many persons who be¬ 
come ill for a short time make an excuse of that ill¬ 
ness and lose time and opportunity in consequence. 

Activities. —Our notebook will be filled with many 
interesting stories with this lesson. Brief anecdotes 
of the persons mentioned in the first and ninth 
Study Topics will be written out. We believe that 
the tenth topic should be written with very great 


WHO ARE YOU? 


49 


care. The personality of Jesus should be talked 
over in the class with certain reserve and much 
consecration. The evidence that is asked for should 
be taken word for word from the Gospels. 

Assignment. —Take stock at this stage by in¬ 
quiring how much actual work you are getting out 
of your class. Are they studying their lessons and 
responding to the assignment better than they 
did at first. Are you improving in the working 
of assignments and in inducing your students to 
respond by doing their parts? Then prepare more 
carefully than ever for the assignment of the next 
lesson. 


Books for Reference 

Biographies of Washington, Lincoln, Webster; and 
magazine articles concerning Jane Austen, Flor¬ 
ence Nightingale, Mary Lyon, to be found in 
Pool’s Index. Houghton Mifflin Company. 

“Florence Nightingale.” Chapter in Eminent Vic¬ 
torians , Strachey. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 

Abraham Lincoln the Christian , Johnson. The 
Abingdon Press. 

The Man Who Dares , Prince. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE LABORER IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE 

“Living at Our Best” is a title chosen by the 
authors because we believe in the heart of every 
child there is a desire to express to the utmost the 
mysterious image of God. Somehow, along the line 
somewhere, either because of inheritance or more 
often because of environment, it seems that the 
child has not had its greatest opportunity to fulfill 
the innate desire, the human instinct, of the best 
self-expression. 

The first third of our book we have entitled 
“Health of Body, Mind, and Spirit,” and we now 
enter upon the second third of the text, which we 
have entitled “Wealth of Money, Time, Oppor¬ 
tunity.” Only until recently has the world at 
large realized that time and opportunity are quite 
as important as dollars and cents in the acquisition 
of wealth. Perhaps no nation has ever suffered 
more from the “root of all evil”—the love of money 
—than has the United States. But now, while the 
world looks on and realizes that we are so flooded 
with gold that we are, as a people, beyond the 
dreams of avarice, it is very possible that in this 
generation mere money will become of secondary 
importance, and the ideals of democracy, which 
are opportunities of achievement through a better 
use of time and leisure, will be fulfilled. It be¬ 
hooves this generation at least to attempt to work 
out such a program. 


50 


THE LABORER IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE 51 


Aim. —This chapter uses the words from Saint 
Luke, Chapter 10. 7 as the challenge for the day. 
One can approach the subject with an emphasis 
upon the thought, “The man who works is worthy 
his full payment for the work given,” or the ideal¬ 
ism set forth by Mrs. Coghill in her familiar verses 
may be emphasized. The interpretation of this 
text depends a little upon how the teacher handles 
the questions under the Study Topics, and what 
kind of questions and answers arise in the dis¬ 
cussion of the text. 

Centers of stress. —The first important point 
to discuss is the paragraph concerning our own 
American men and women; that the game of work 
is infinitely more worth while than the mere money 
earned. Another center of stress will be the dis¬ 
cussion of the paragraph entitled “The Slacker 
Brother.” We may well ask, “What is the trouble 
with this young man?” This query will arouse 
thoughts that may have to be guided by the teacher. 
One can look around in the community and see 
just such instances as the one used as an illustra¬ 
tion in the book; but the members of the class must 
be very careful not to use names nor to choose 
such striking personalities that gossip or publicity 
shall be the price paid for the discussion. In fact, 
the third center of stress is the most important, 
we believe, where the text sets forth the fact that 
Jesus of Nazareth was fully equipped in his powers 
of mind, body, and soul before he was ready to 
undertake his work in the world. Not until we 
have a wealth of intelligence and spirit can we as 
laborers go out to work for the kingdom of right¬ 
eousness, and the carpenter, Jesus Christ, when 
he did go forth, was worthy of his wage because 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


52 

his life had been devoted from the foundations 
of spiritual thought. 

Procedure. —With this particular lesson it might 
be well to turn to the Study Topics at once and 
discuss each one in turn. There are many ques¬ 
tions which will bear emphatic interpretation, but the 
usefulness of these questions will depend upon the 
locality in which the class lives. Such thoughts as 
“Tainted Money” suggests may not be appropriate 
for the particular community. Or, again, the 
twelfth question may not have in it any especial 
value for the boys and girls who are studying the 
lesson. 

The story of Horace Mann can be found in any 
encyclopedia, but some other person whose boy¬ 
hood was strenuous and fine may be a more appro¬ 
priate biography than the one in the text. In 
many classes the two verses of poetry may have 
been sung so often that it will not be necessary to 
commit the lines to memory; but if they are really 
new to most of the members of the class, it is well 
to get them into the backs of the children’s minds, 
for each little couplet has in it a spur and a blessed 
thought. 

Application. —When the work of the chapter has 
been accomplished the teacher ought to feel that 
the transition from the thought of health has very 
easily slipped over into the thought of wealth. 
Let the children realize that they must have means 
for food, shelter, and clothing; that the whole 
world to-day is suffering because some people have 
too much wealth and others have not enough. If 
it has occurred to the teacher to inform the pupils 
that one tenth of all the people in America possess 
ninety per cent of all the money in the United 


THE LABORER IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE 53 

States, wealth in relation to money may mean a 
new thing. Or, again, if the teacher tells her class 
that one third of all the people in the world go 
hungry every day, again wealth may mean some¬ 
thing in connection with food, and shelter, and 
clothing. 

But we believe that constructive lessons with 
hope in them are more important than the enumera¬ 
tion of the evils of wealth. The paragraph entitled, 
“The Love of Money” has in it much for discussion, 
especially where we can quote, “Money is a great 
good,” and where we can explain the use of money 
as an “exchange.’’ 

There are so many things to-day which we desire 
to possess which money cannot buy but which we 
need the wealth of time for and the open gateways 
to which we may go to opportunities or oppor¬ 
tunities may come to us. The whole working 
world is clamoring for more time away from indus¬ 
try. The question arises, Shall we give the work¬ 
ingman eight hours or shall we keep him on shifts 
of twelve and thirteen hours a day? Shall we 
possess time so we may send our children to school 
until they are sixteen and eighteen years of age, 
or must we use that time for money-getting instead 
of leisure-getting? 

The teacher will be able to measure up her com¬ 
munity, and fit these great questions of “the use 
of leisure and its abuse,” “and the use of oppor¬ 
tunity and its abuse,” for the particular environment. 

Activities. —We have spoken of the wisdom of 
committing the Memory Quotation. We also advise 
that the questions under the Study Topics be 
answered and copied into the notebook. There are 
so many questions that it is possible that the class 


54 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


may wish to divide them, and where some discuss 
good citizenship, another will wish to make an 
investigation of those things which are Caesar’s, 
while a third group may wish to compare “The 
Slacker Brother” with some famous man. 

If possible for the class to have access to pic¬ 
tures (even good newspaper cuts will do), it would 
be well to begin at this point a collection of prints 
to illustrate our section on wealth. The pictures 
would include men in labor, great men in big busi¬ 
ness, captains of industry, men whose biographies 
are being published constantly in magazines as an 
inspiration to young men who have their future 
before them, great educators and professional men 
who have used their time and opportunities to the 
best advantage. 

Assignment. —The next lesson is on a practical and 
an interesting topic and should be easy to secure 
careful work upon. 

Books for Reference 

Political Economy and Political Science , Carver. 
Ginn & Company. Chapter on “Wealth” im¬ 
portant; also discussion of the “Capable Race” 
and of “People Who Go to Waste.” 

The Tragedy of Labor , Halstead. The Abingdon 
Press. 

Social Significance of the Teachings of Jesus , Jenks. 
Association Press. 

Horace Mann (founder of Normal Schools in the 
United States). See articles in Pool’s Index . 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 


CHAPTER XII 


MONEY IS DEFENSE 

This whole chapter, though brief in words, is 
full of significance. The more abundant life is 
explained when Jesus states, “To him that hath 
shall be given,” or, again, in his famous parable 
of the talents, the steward gives to the man of 
five talents the responsibility and honor of guardian¬ 
ship over five cities. 

Aim. —To make boys and girls see that dollars 
and cents when once earned may be of inestimable 
value to friends and neighbors and to God, may 
put upon “filthy lucre” a new and intrinsic value. 
You cannot give money without having it. The 
highest effort-giving service you cannot command 
unless you have the defense of money to start with 
so that the necessities of life are had without effort. 
Wherever we carry on, in social service, or in the 
field of missions, or in consecrated Christian daily 
life, there must be money to pay the cost. Hence 
the title “Money Is Defense” becomes a vital sub¬ 
ject for a day’s lesson. This lesson should make 
its students more wise and careful in the use of 
their own money and time. 

Centers of stress. —First comes the important 
challenge of investment—not only of the invest¬ 
ment of stocks and bonds but of one’s time. How 
one spends one’s evening may mean as much of an 
investment as buying a page of thrift stamps. This 
point should be discussed with much earnestness 

55 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


56 

because the investment of time at this point is 
closely allied with one’s opportunity, and, after all, 
opportunity, as we have said before, is the gate¬ 
way to the right kind of work. 

Another sentence which may well be dwelt upon 
reads, “Real spiritual investing, however concealed 
by earthly wrappings, is at the same time invest¬ 
ment for God.” This center of stress, together 
with the one on page 80, carries us to great 
heights; “There must be some time saved for God, 
for study and practice of the life of Jesus, for read¬ 
ing the Bible.” To gain in spiritual growth as 
one would gain in physical wealth one must work, 
and work with a will. 

The Rev. Washington Gladden emphasizes this 
investment in Christian spirit. 

Procedure. —It would seem as though the aim 
is so clear in this chapter and the center of stress 
so marked, that the procedure would naturally 
follow the text. The teacher will find as she reads 
with the class that many questions arise and she 
must plan for time for the answers and the dis¬ 
cussion which will naturally follow. 

Application. —The application is pretty well 
rounded out in the Study Topics. Perhaps the 
questions are too searching and the teacher may 
have to ask general questions based on these exact 
. queries. For instance, the third question may be 
put in this wise, “Can’t you imagine walking with 
Jesus in the fields of Galilee? How wonderful it 
would have been to hear him ask if you had noticed 
the lilies of the field, saying in a simple but beau¬ 
tiful way, ‘They toil not, neither do they spin, 
yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 
one of these’!” With such an approach to a rather 


MONEY IS DEFENSE 


57 

difficult question the more intimate thought may 
be expressed. 

Of course the fourth question is impersonal, or, 
at least, not too intimate; and much pleasant dis¬ 
cussion may follow from it. 

The discussion of the text is one which applies 
to every one of us, and the boys and girls may be 
made to see that they are just boys and girls like 
Saint Paul, the “least of all saints,” and can go 
about preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ 
Activities. —These ten questions may be fully 
answered in the notebooks, and the pictures for this 
week may be chosen from nature—pictures of wild 
flowers, pictures of birds, and, if possible, scenes 
showing the wonderful work done in Labrador by 
Dr. Grenfell. None of these notebooks need to 
contain the same pictures. The larger the differen¬ 
tiation, the better, for then each one will have 
something to contribute to the other. Perhaps 
the making of personal budgets or the keeping of 
a personal account may be started. 

Assignment. —The next lesson is perhaps slightly 
more difficult to assign than the last, but is full of 
excellent opportunity. Study it yourself, decide 
how, with your class, you can best make it a success, 
and call upon them to do their part. 

Books for Reference 

Pamphlets on Thrift, Bureau of Publication, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. (These pamphlets are most im¬ 
portant, especially those issued during the war.) 
Life of Grenfell. See magazine articles in Pool’s 
Index. Houghton Mifflin Company. 


CHAPTER XIII 


BEGINNING BUSINESS 

There is no more beautiful story in history than 
that drawn by the great loving doctor, Saint Luke, 
who seemed to love to draw upon the babyhood 
and childhood of our Master. Before teaching 
Chapter XIII, we would recommend that the story 
as set forth in the Gospel be read to the class. The 
story of Jesus in the Temple and the illustration by 
the artist Hofmann will give a center of interest 
before the story is begun. 

Aim. —The whole aim of this chapter is to lift 
work out of drudgery into service for God. Chap¬ 
ter XVI discusses drudgery, and this chapter is a 
challenge to boys and girls and to teachers them¬ 
selves. The Memory Quotation is a ringing slogan, 
“We are not here to play, to dream, to drift”; 
God’s gift to us is hard work, big loads, and a great 
struggle. The hazard of life is worth while. We 
are to face it. The battle must go on. And always 
we know that “with to-morrow comes a song.” 

Centers of stress. —Of course the first center of 
stress is the picture of this lad of twelve, uncon¬ 
scious of his parents, arriving at an age when he 
had become conscious of his own responsibility, 
held spellbound with singleness of purpose as he 
confronts the famous teachers in the synagogue. 

In just such a way as Jesus Christ felt the all- 
absorbing interest “to be about” his “Father’s 
business,” so men and women world without end 
have felt that glorious impulse to serve their Master 
in one way or another, but always through single- 

58 


BEGINNING BUSINESS 


59 


ness of mind, always with a consecration of the 
intellect and of the heart as one which makes for 
character and genius. 

The third center brings us to our main topic of 
wealth. “To Jesus, wealth was knowing God,” 
and the fortune Jesus left to his followers was this 
knowledge of God. 

Procedure. —After the story of Jesus in the Temple 
has been read to the class and the discussion of the 
text as far as the “Absorption and Interest,” we 
would suggest that other famous men and women 
be enumerated besides those given on page 85. 
In all probability the pupils have heard of many 
men and women who have forgotten the things 
of this world because of their intense absorption 
in one thing which their genius seemed to follow 
like a gleam. 

Application. —If there is time, it would be well, 
it seems to us, to bring before the class at this point 
the many things which boys and girls of thirteen 
years of age may put away as childish things. More¬ 
over, a list of those things of which they are them¬ 
selves conscious in their responsibility to their own 
lives, may be enumerated. In how far boys and 
girls of thirteen may share in the present-day world 
problems is not too far afield, we believe, as being 
something about which they might call their Father’s 
business. Their responsibility to the mission box, to 
the starving orphans of Europe, to the poor in their 
own community, to the crippled soldiers in the hos¬ 
pitals, and to the formation of habits of prayer that 
the world may be saved from war and the destruc¬ 
tion which comes with disease following war. 

The verses by Dr. Babcock belong to this phase 
of our work. We must somehow or other get our 


6o 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


children ready to face this big struggle which is to 
be their inheritance. For this generation has the 
hardest battle yet to fight—the great battle of 
spirit over matter, a war against war. 

Activities. —As the questions under the Study 
Topics are answered, we would suggest that each 
of the questions be given to separate members of 
the class or to two or three at least and much work 
put upon the definition and interpretations used 
in answering the questions. The tenth question, 
which is a request that the class read the eighth 
psalm, can be used as a special topic and para¬ 
phrased by some one. With the text itself, we 
trust that the last question be used as a slogan or 
motto for the class in days to come; a motto which 
will go straight to the conscience of each boy and 
girl, whether he is at work or play. 

Assignment. —Be sure that you learn yourself the 
heart of the next lesson before you try to assign 
it. It is somewhat difficult for young minds. Plan 
how to introduce the idea it contains as you make 
the assignment, and how best to have the class 
prepare the lesson to insure its mastery and lead 
to fruitful discussion. 

Books for Reference 

Life and Words of Christ , Geikie. D. Appleton & 
Company. 

For persons referred to throughout this text, see 
magazine articles in PooPs Index. Houghton 
Mifflin Company. 

Alfred the Great, Short History of the English 
People , Green. American Book Company. 

John Huss: The Witness , Kuhns. The Methodist 
Book Concern. 


CHAPTER XIV 


TRUTH IS WEALTH 

The children at this age will be a little young 
to discuss truth in theory, but already they have 
begun to think of wealth as a reality. The chap¬ 
ter, therefore, is meant to get at truth through 
the possession of those things that are worth search¬ 
ing for—those things which have their reward later, 
but for which there is no reward at the moment 
when the search is taking place. Nature herself 
is the greatest truth, and children in their early 
adolescence may be appealed to in their search 
to know about the laws of nature and the beauties 
of nature. The little poem, 

“See thou bring not to field or stone 
The fancies found in books; 

Leave authors’ eyes and fit your own 
To brave the landscape’s looks,” 

is not unlike the poem of Wordsworth that bids 
his scholar throw aside his books and get out into 
the open fields in order to know God. 

Aim. —Most of all we need “knowledge of the 
unsearchable riches of God in Christ.” If it is 
possible to do so, we want to make the boy and 
girl realize that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the 
things which God hath prepared for them that 
love him.” And in order to possess this wealth 
of God’s riches, we must follow the text. Our aim 

61 


62 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


must be, “Buy the truth and sell it not.” Our 
aim must be again that of the “Chambered Nau¬ 
tilus”—“Build thee more stately mansions, O my 
soul,” day by day as I live, here and now. 

Centers of stress. —Truth is worth all that it 
has cost because we share it; we do not hoard it, 
we do not exchange it for something else. Again 
the pure scientist who seeks truth for its own sake 
may not gain personal financial profit, but he casts 
his discovery upon the waters of the world, and 
such bread cast upon such water does come back 
after many days. 

But the third center of stress is the most im¬ 
portant—that of searching for God’s thoughts. 
Slowly, by discovery, invention, thought, trial, and 
error, men are discovering more and more of God’s 
infinite reality which we call truth. 

Boys and girls of to-day know more than old 
men and women knew a hundred years ago. The 
equipment of a child’s mind, a child of ten, is greater 
than the equipment of his great-grandfather, no 
matter how finely educated he might have been 
at Harvard or Oxford or the University of Virginia. 
In the age of this ten-year-old boy’s great-grand¬ 
father the people were not ready to use the gifts 
which to-day are perfectly comprehensible. A 
small boy of twelve can understand the laws that 
produce radio machines, and he can sit in his little 
den fitted up with apparatus to hear music across 
a continent, while the Victrola, another miracle of 
his father’s generation, is set to play the record of 
the same music which comes broadcast over the 
country. We must emphasize with these children 
who have such tremendous riches from the hand 
of God poured into their laps, that these riches are 


TRUTH IS WEALTH 


63 

from God and that additions in the evolution of 
time tell the secrets of his mysterious world to 
those who are ready to use those secrets. Evi¬ 
dently, the last century was not ready for airships, 
broadcasting radio, submarines, and a long list of 
wonderful discoveries and inventions which belong 
exclusively to this century. We wonder why God 
is giving to his creatures such wonderful gifts. 
Certainly they must be given to us for worthy causes. 
They must be given to us to make the world wealthier 
and happier and more alive to the Fatherhood of 
God. 

Procedure. —With this chapter it is well to read 
the text paragraph by paragraph or, with the texts 
open, discuss the thoughts as they are presented, 
emphasizing the three points which we have already 
stressed as important. The famous world charac¬ 
ters, Plato, Darwin, Madame Curie, etc., are worth 
giving much time to, and certainly Bell and Edison 
must have their biographies presented, even though 
we take it for granted that almost all children 
know about them as intimately as they do about 
Franklin. 

Application. —There is no question but that this 
chapter is applicable, for very few of us have wealth 
except as it is given to us as the reward of daily 
living. Very few of the citizens of the world own 
actual money. The happiness of life does not lie 
in the possession of dollars and cents, but in the 
ever buying of new truth and never selling the old 
truth. The church, the state, the school, and the 
home are institutions which handle truth and so 
present it that the poorest of us get happiness out 
of what we know. Like David Henry Thoreau, 
we may travel much and far sitting by our own 


64 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


fireside, because true reading makes it possible 
for us to touch not only the nations of the world 
but to follow the astronomers into the far distance 
where stars millions of miles away seem twinkling 
for our own personal delight. 

Activities.—All the pupils should commit to 
memory the quotation from Doctor Holmes’ “The 
Chambered Nautilus.” The Study Topics offer 
far-reaching investigation. There are too many 
for any one boy or girl to look up, or even to copy 
into the notebook, but we have offered the ten 
questions because we believe some of them at 
least will be invaluable to those who are making their 
notebooks rich with truth about people and ideals. 

It would be well to bring in pictures of the great 
men who are mentioned in the Study Topics and 
also the map of the country where these people 
have lived and done their great work. 

Assignment.—Boys and girls of this age are 
beginning to consider what is to be their work, 
and this interest, though just dawning, can be 
utilized to secure the study of the succeeding lesson. 
Give each member some personal responsibility; 
and then be sure in the recitation to call for the 
parts specially assigned. 

Books for Reference 

For magazine articles, see Pool’s Index , relating to 
all the inventors mentioned in this chapter. 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Principles of Political Economy , Carver. Ginn & 
Company. 

Social Principles of Jesus , Rauschenbusch. Associa¬ 
tion Press. (Chapter VIII especially; a discussion 
of private property and the common good.) 


CHAPTER XV 


WHAT IS YOUR WORK? 

Doctor Richard Cabot, in his helpful book en¬ 
titled, What Men Live By, makes this statement: 
“To do something again and again, as the trees, 
the birds, and our own hearts do, is a fundamental 
need which demands and receives satisfaction in 
work as well as in play.” It would be well for the 
teacher of these chapters on wealth to read with 
care the chapters on “Work” discussed by Dr. 
Cabot. His insistence upon the fact that real life 
demands work as a basis for happiness, as well as 
recreation and loving and worshiping, he discusses 
at great length and always with compelling con¬ 
viction. 

This chapter, “What Is Your Work?” is the 
beginning of five chapters, all of which have to 
deal with the business of life. Doxsee’s Getting 
Into Your Life-Work is within the grasp of the 
class and will prove helpful to the teacher in these 
lessons. 

Aim. —At the outset we feel that the challenge 
in the Memory Quotation is the challenge for the 
whole group of chapters. 

“In the bustle of man’s work time 
Greet the unseen with a cheer.” 

The work done is all-important. This getting 
satisfaction out of work is imperative. This fitting 
the person (the persons of our class) to the right 

65 


66 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


kind of work and giving him glory in the labor 
is the object for which the chapter has been written. 

“ ‘Strive and thrive!’ cry, ‘Speed, fight on, fare ever 
There as here!’ ” 

Centers of stress. —First comes choice. The work 
that we are going to do is worth somebody’s doing, 
and if we choose to do the work we must do it well. 
Out of that doing will commence our joy. Out of 
it comes high adventure. And, again, a second 
important thought to emphasize is the appeal to 
each member of the class in relation to his natural 
gifts. The story of the talents in the Bible is so 
lovely that the teacher may well set aside the text 
of “Living at Our Best” for the moment while she 
reads to the class the parable used by Jesus to 
convey to his disciples the great truth that no 
matter how small our gifts, or how great, we must 
put them to interest. We must use them faith¬ 
fully. There must be no chance of wrapping our 
talents in a napkin and becoming the unfaithful 
servant. This story of the talents ties our lesson 
with the Gospels, but a third center of stress which 
takes us away from Bible-reading into the field 
of everyday life is the page entitled, The Romance 
of Labor , which is the title of a book written by Mrs. 
Trumley and Mr. Dana, who have gathered to¬ 
gether material from the lives of men interested 
in doing things, which in the end become associated 
one way or another with all humanity. When one 
thinks of earning a living by canning salmon, it 
does not sound thrilling, but as these authors have 
portrayed the processes of salmon-canning the 
story grows illumined and the day laborer becomes 
consecrated and transfigured. The chapter on 


WHAT IS YOUR WORK? 


67 


“Sheep Shearing”—in fact, every chapter in this 
delightful book—describes the joyous contribution 
of men and women who in the routine of earning 
a living make of that routine a sort of gallant daily 
life. We refer to the authors quoted, and to James 
Lane Allen, and we would suggest that the teacher 
read Mr. Allen’s novel, The Kentucky Cardinal , and 
bring into the classroom some of the wonderful 
pictures he draws of the miracle which takes place 
every year in the beautiful Southern fields. We 
have quoted four lines, but the quotation is all too 
short and the book is well worth while giving to 
the young people in larger portions. 

Procedure. —At the outset we believe a dis¬ 
cussion of the mind of Jesus at twelve will be of 
benefit, especially if the boys and girls in the class 
are themselves from twelve to fourteen years of 
age. It is essential, of course, to impress the child 
with the fact that the people of the East matured 
a little younger than children do in the twentieth 
century here in the United States, but throughout 
history and in most nations boys and girls of twelve 
are counted young men and women, or at least enter¬ 
ing into their adolescent period. Over and over 
again the story of Jesus in the Temple may well 
be discussed. It is the only story we have of the 
childhood or youth of our Master. In art and in 
poetry and in everyday life, it is the subject for 
people who think, for people who have a vision 
and who long to serve their heavenly Father, just 
as the boy Jesus wished heartily to be about his 
Father’s business. 

As the lesson proceeds step by step, there is 
much to build on in this chapter. The paragraph 
entitled “Careful Choosing” opens up a field of 


68 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


discussion, and although vocational training is 
spoken of at greater length farther on, there is 
no reason why the teacher should not introduce 
the idea of choice in connection with choosing a 
worthy life-work or, if not a life-work, work that 
is going to bring the right kind of reward and the 
joy of adventure. The challenge, which comes 
from discussing and planning the future work that 
is based upon making a business of to-day’s work, 
is a very important contribution in the text. Pay¬ 
ing the “price in grit and work” almost becomes 
a slogan when one begins to discuss school lessons 
and school tasks. 

If possible, the teacher should bring into class 
the book entitled The Romance of Labor , and should 
read from it here and there informally some of 
the wonderful descriptions of occupations and the 
pleasure that the workmen get from following these 
occupations. 

Every boy and girl should be expected to 
know the two lessons taken from the Epilogue to 
“Asolando,” and the Study Topics will fit in with 
the general discussion of the chapter. 

Application.—The text reads easily, but there is 
much between the lines to discuss, especially when 
one has reached the topic “Your Natural Gifts.” 
With a certain delicacy and consideration, the 
teacher may ask the boys and girls in her class 
what they believe is a natural gift, God-given in 
their possession. Everyone has a natural gift, if 
only loving mother and father, serving in the fam¬ 
ily, doing things well for those who are dear to 
them; and almost everyone has something more 
than the talent of devotion to one’s home. Almost 
everyone has some little personal trick which is 


WHAT IS YOUR WORK? 


69 


so individual that if she or he does not use it, it 
goes unused. Not a sparrow falls. Every one is 
of some inscrutable, some mysterious use in the 
world, and their usefulness and their talents are 
one. This is important to teach in this chapter, 
“What Is Your Work?” 

Activities. —The notebook work will be brief this 
week. There are but seven questions and the 
answers will not take much time to copy. The 
seventh question, the story of the Talents, need 
not be written in detail, of course. 

Because the Study Topics are less, it might be 
well to ask the pupils to write a paper on the text, 
“In all labor there is profit.” We have not asked 
for any original work so far, but the chapter “What 
Is Your Work?” should have been stimulating in a 
personal way and the reaction may well be expected 
that might take the form of a so-called “little com¬ 
position”—a composition of perhaps two pages. 
The teacher may suggest that the composition have 
a beginning, a body, and a conclusion and that 
under the body of the text, labor may be divided 
into a number of points, physical and mental. For 
instance, “Labor in the Fields,” “Labor in Fac¬ 
tories,” “Labor in the Schoolroom.” The discretion 
of the teacher should be used according to the 
quality of the class and the refinement in which 
they live. 

In connection with illustrations, we would sug¬ 
gest that pictures of the industrial world should 
be introduced. Within the last few years, many 
wonderful bas-reliefs and pieces of statuary have 
been produced by our modern artists. If possible, 
it would be well to get copies of these. Rodin’s 
work has in it much that deals with labor and 


70 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


with the growing mind of the laborer. Such pic¬ 
tures will stimulate the students. 

Assignment. —Perhaps use can be made of the 
thought back of these lessons in getting the assign¬ 
ments carried out. As boys and girls their life- 
work just now is in part precisely such things as 
getting lessons and doing tasks. Be sure you do 
your part well in helping them see how to prepare 
the next lesson. 

Books for Reference 

Romance of Labor, Twombly and Dana. The Mac¬ 
millan Company. 

The Kentucky Cardinal, Allen. The Macmillan 
Company. 

Getting Into Your Life-Work, Doxsee. The Abingdon 
Press. 

Who's Who in the Universe, Gettys. The Abingdon 
Press. 

Asolando, Browning. Houghton Mifflin Company. 


CHAPTER XVI 


WHEN WORK IS NOT DRUDGERY 

We quoted at the outset of the last chapter from 
Doctor Cabot’s What Men Live By. If we turn to 
it and reread it, we may ask the question, “After 
all to do something again and again even if it be 
a fundamental need might become a drudgery, 
might it not?” We can ask the question, and we 
can ask another more far-reaching question: “Why 
is it that when we watch the trees in the spring¬ 
time and see them putting forth their annual garb 
of tender greens, or when we see the flocks of robins 
returning in an April afternoon to our scanty covered 
lawn, why is it we do not feel the monotony of 
nature, or why is it that our hearts do not grow 
weary with loving mother and little brother day 
in and day out, summer and winter and spring and 
fall?” What is drudgery? Evidently, it cannot 
be the repetition of the same thing. 

Aim. —Yes, what is drudgery? This chapter sums 
up what it means to do honest work which may 
in itself be raised above drudgery because of the 
interest which the worker brings to it and the 
eagerness with which the work is approached. Re¬ 
member that you are teaching workers , and make 
the lesson practical. 

Centers of stress. —It is quite important that 
the class realize how the children of Israel developed 
a nation of citizens, and because of the locality 
and their ability to travel and their education 

7i 


72 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


(because of their travel), a large class of them became 
merchants. It will be well for the teacher to bring in¬ 
to class a history of the Jews or a life of Jesus which 
contains the backgrounds of Jewish life. Such a bi¬ 
ography or history will throw much light upon the 
daily environment of Jesus, and the boys and girls who 
were associated with him throughout those years of 
boyhood and youth which are so sacred to us and of 
which we know so little through the Gospels. 

The fact that Jesus followed the trade of his 
father, Joseph, and the reaction of that work upon 
his character is a center of stress very important. 
One loves to think of the material work of carpen¬ 
try which Jesus did as a boy. It seems symbolic 
of the wonderful spiritual building which Jesus is to 
fulfill eventually, when his followers—the disciples 
themselves, and all those who have called them¬ 
selves Christians in the last two thousand years, 
and you and I in this generation, and those to 
follow us—shall have helped to finish the building of 
the great temple not made with hands, the structure 
celestial in nature unto which we, from this temporal 
world, will pass with a recognition not only of the 
Builder himself, but of our share in the building. 

“The men who would be like him are wanted 
everywhere.” When there are enough such men 
his carpentry work will be finished. 

Procedure. —Every teacher who comes to the 
Memory Quotation will find in it great beauty and 
stimulation. It is almost impossible to suggest 
to the teacher just how to talk this point over with 
the students. The man or woman who has the 
class will fit it to circumstances and to experience. 
The power of this chapter lies in the lessons which 
were learned at the carpenter’s bench by our Master 


WHEN WORK IS NOT DRUDGERY 


73 

and in the challenge of the text, “My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work.” 

Application. —George Eliot’s lines in “Stradi- 
varius” may well be used as an illustration of the 
application of this chapter. The chapter is written 
to stimulate the students to be like Antonio 
Stradivari, whose eye winced at false work and 
loved the true, whose hand and arm played upon 
the tool as willingly as any singing bird and all 
because the bird loves to sing and likes the song. 

Activities. —It will not be necessary to copy into 
the notebook the answers to the first question, 
because it is already in the text itself; but the 
second has in it much that ought to interest the 
students, and a long list of school work and home 
chores can be copied: also the points set forth as 
the social value of learning a trade relate to these 
chores and to school work. Then, again, the third 
question, which includes the work of the mem¬ 
bers of a family, offers elaborate material for the 
notebook. The fourth question is for discussion 
rather than for written work, while the fifth ques¬ 
tion may well take the form of a bright anecdote 
or even a good story for the notebook. George 
Eliot’s poem will also offer a background for a 
story, or it may be paraphrased, as the teacher 
thinks best. The seventh and eighth questions 
take us over into the field of social welfare. Articles 
from magazines may be used, and, if possible, we 
would suggest pamphlets procured from industrial 
headquarters or from the child-welfare organizations 
and child-labor associations. If possible, the ninth 
question should suggest to some of the boys and 
girls to send for pictures from the Perry Company, 
or Brown Brothers, or the University Press. 


74 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Assignment. —Every teacher reads now and then 
to consider not only the method of his teaching, 
but the method of his assigning lessons . In fact, 
this is a part of his teaching and by far from the 
least important part. Perhaps you will want to 
take this occasion, now that you are half way 
through the course, to consider this question about 
your own work. And then prepare for the best 
assignment for the next lesson which you have so 
far made. 


Books for Reference 

What Men Live By , Cabot. Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

Christ in Everyday Life , Bosworth. Association 
Press. 

Getting Into Your Life-Work , Doxsee. The Abing¬ 
don Press. 


CHAPTER XVII 


“MY SKILL IS MY FORTUNE, SIR” 

We think that our four points enumerated under 
the paragraph “Where Your Real Capital Is,” set 
forth the interest we have in writing Chapter XVII. 
The authors, out of their own educational expe¬ 
rience, have been led to the conviction (i) that 
Health is Wealth, (2) that Wealth is Opportunity, 
(3) that Time is really Eternal, and (4) that Living 
and Working with others, we must give a hand 
and take a hand. 

Every teacher who undertakes to interpret Living 
at Our Best will agree with us. You will agree that 
the moment we find a joy in work we have found 
our place, both in the utility of the world and in 
its greatest happiness. Everybody seems to be of 
use with the exception of the few “down-and-outs.” 
These poor homeless ones, without love in their lives, 
need us because we do work and we do rejoice in our 
work. It matters very little whether we come in 
touch with the idle rich or those who belong to the 
great unemployed through necessity, we realize how 
much our fortune of health, wealth, and happiness 
brings to us joy which must be shared with these 
other unfortunates, with these unskilled parasites in 
the capitalistic class and these unskilled members of 
the proletariat. 

Aim.—We have attempted in this chapter to 
emphasize the sources of man’s skill and our rela¬ 
tion to the Creator, to the God-given blessing which 

75 


76 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


is ours through our hands and our minds and our 
hearts. We wish if possible to create in these young 
people’s minds the thought that a fortune is not 
dollars and cents, and that capital lies in that 
which is locked up in the ability of everyone and 
which when used skillfully commands both the 
wealth that is expressed in actual money and, better 
still, in the wealth that is expressed in art and 
service. 

Centers of stress. —“The real boss of the ma¬ 
chine is the skill the worker puts into the use of it.” 
Here is a thought which may be discussed from all 
sorts of angles. The boy with a lawn mower may 
take that machine, run it across his father’s grass 
and clover with such efficiency that his mother, 
standing at the porch, will exclaim, “Why, you have 
made a green velvet carpet of it.” Or the lawn 
may be so hacked and left so unkempt that father 
himself will have to go over it later to even things 
down. There is not a machine that these children 
come in contact with that may not be used to 
illustrate the first center of stress. Again under 
“Your Brain” comes the thought that God planned 
that our heads and hands should work together. 
Here, again, there are many thoughts that will 
naturally spring up for discussion if the teacher 
spends a little time in thinking out just how many, 
many times children fail in school because their 
minds do not teach the control of muscles and 
nerves as they were meant to work in unison. 

Of course the third center of stress will be the 
enumeration of the four points, and a summing up 
of all the chapter might lie in the teacher’s reading 
to the class the verses from Browning’s “Rabbi 
Ben Ezra,” 


“MY SKILL IS MY FORTUNE, SIR” 


77 


“Grow old along with me; 

The best is yet to be.” 

If it requires about two thirds of a long life to 
learn the wisdom which lies between the lines of 
the text of this chapter, the above couplet is par¬ 
ticularly appropriate. Then, again, the memory 
quotation assures us that, after all, we are “weaving 
blindly on the great looms of God.” It is important, 
therefore, that our weaving should be done the 
best we know how if we may not see how the right 
side looks. 

Application. —The nineteen questions from the 
Study Topics are meant to go straight home. They 
are tests which have been taken from authors who 
are experts in psychology and it will be well for 
the teacher to make quite sure that the test is 
thorough. For instance, under the ninth ques¬ 
tion, even kindergarten children can be tested as 
they come and go from school. The eighth ques¬ 
tion is a little more difficult, but it will make the 
children think, and from now on, as we have finished 
half the chapters of the book, there ought to be a 
growing intelligence on the part of each student. 
More ought to be accomplished by the child, and 
the teacher ought to feel at liberty to demand 
more of the children. We feel very strongly that 
this book will fail in its object unless the teacher 
can see by this time that the children’s health is 
better looked after and that thrift has begun and 
that straighter thinking is being done because of 
the Sunday discussions of these chapters. They 
should have found that they have “skill which is 
fortune” growing out of intensive thought along 
the lines of health and wealth. 


78 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Activities. —If it is possible for the teacher to 
obtain all the verses of Mr. Chester’s “Tapestry 
Weavers,” it would be well to have the children 
copy these verses into their notebooks. The poem 
was too long to use as an excerpt on the printed 
page, but I would advise the whole poem being 
used in the class if possible. Under the Study 
Topics there are many questions which need only 
very brief answers unless the teacher feels that she 
wishes to develop each question itself. For instance, 
under the thirteenth question, the teacher might 
add a half a dozen songs, the titles to which would 
be well worth entering into the notebook. The 
sixteenth question is particularly important. We 
find that a great many children have no idea of 
their ancestry. It is an opportunity for the teacher 
to show the child his obligations to fathers and 
grandfathers and great-grandfathers, to mothers, 
grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. Moreover, 
each child should know what her national back¬ 
grounds are; whether English, Irish, French, Russian 
Jew. The children should realize that in their sub¬ 
conscious selves there are probably untold racial and 
national characteristics, and these are all gifts of 
God which may be developed and used as part of 
one’s fortune. 

We have not spoken of the text. Unless the 
teacher uses the text in connection with the four 
points so necessary to recognize, she may use it 
as a special topic in her activities, asking the chil¬ 
dren to write the story of Daniel which will be 
found in the book of Daniel. 

Assignment. —If you carried out the personal 
suggestion of the last chapter, you will have studied 
the next lesson ahead and be prepared to make it 


“MY SKILL IS MY FORTUNE, SIR” 79 

so appealing to the pupils in your assignment that 
they cannot fail to carry out their parts. 

Books for Reference 

The Manhood of the Master , Fosdick. Association 
Press. 

For lives of persons discussed in Study Topics see 
magazine articles, PooTs Index . Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

The Possible You , Espey. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


WHAT IS THRIFT? 

When we read in our economics books that the 
whole world is striving for food, shelter, and clothing, 
and that a third of the world goes hungry and 
unclothed and more or less unsheltered, we are 
overwhelmed with the seeming hopelessness. In 
our better judgment we know that God so created 
the world that his children should have dominion 
over his other creations. As we study science we 
recognize without question that there is enough 
food stored away in the earth to feed everyone. 
Production from the soil is the secret of prosperity. 
Springtime sowing brings autumn harvesting; there 
is no question about it, provided man is willing to 
work intelligently and to work thriftily, because 
sowing one’s seeds in the springtime does not mean 
a harvest without the intelligence and the power 
to fight the weeds and meet the sometimes cruelties 
of nature herself. 

It would be well for the teacher to write to Wash- 
ington, especially to the Home Economics Depart¬ 
ment, and also to the Bureau of Statistics for 
pamphlets which emphasize most effectively the 
work done by the government during the Great 
War and since the war to promote thrift, not only 
in relation to the ownership of thrift stamps but 
in relation to all kinds of wise getting and wise using 
of money. These pamphlets are given away and 
are invaluable. 


80 


WHAT IS THRIFT? 


81 


Aim.—This chapter is longer than most of the 
chapters, but it is of so great importance that we 
have felt at liberty to put more into the text and 
less into the Study Topics. After all, the school¬ 
teacher can do but little with the members of her 
class. The waste that is going on all around us 
is the waste of the older members of society. The 
children catch their cues from the home. Mothers 
are most unwise with their daughters, never count¬ 
ing the cost; and fathers are equally so with their 
sons. We are such a nouveau riche nation; we have 
arrived with our money without effort in so many, 
many cases. We have “struck oil” in so many 
avenues of business that it is not strange that 
parents are uneducated in the use of spending the 
money. Our aim, therefore, has been to emphasize 
this point of view with the children and to chal¬ 
lenge the teacher to discuss it very frankly in the 
class. 

Centers of stress. —Our thriftlessness runs over 
into waste of time and opportunity. We have en¬ 
titled that thought “Other Waste,” and the teacher 
should emphasize this lack of thrift on the part 
of every one of us. Again, under the “Habit of 
Saving,” the thought that we may save for a sunny 
day or a rainy day, or in order that we may think 
largely of a desired end for some one else, should 
be considered with full discussion. 

The challenge to the young girls in the class may 
well be discussed by the boys themselves as well 
as the girls. It is a great pity that city boys should 
not be taught as well as the country boys many 
of the virtues of home economics. The old-fashioned 
farm boy knew the cost of food, for he bartered his 
eggs for tea and coffee at the country store. Our 


82 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


lack of intelligence in connection with fabrics and 
furnishings and luxuries will give opportunity for 
much discussion. And along with this center of 
stress comes the “last word in thrift”—the knowl¬ 
edge of how to get the whole use out of a thing, or 
in other words, not wasting anything. 

Lastly comes the important example which Christ 
set us in the use of his time and opportunity. 

Procedure. —It might be well to change the order 
of the lesson for this Sunday and open the session 
with a discussion of the Study Topics before the 
text is used. 

The story of the rich young man to whom Jesus 
commands that he sell all and give to the poor, 
will offer opportunity for an interpretation of what 
Jesus meant in that particular instance. 

Then will follow the text itself, which, as we 
nave already said, is of such importance that we 
have dwelt upon each topic at some length. The 
poem by Dr. MacDonald upon “Duty” may be used 
as one reaches the example of Christ’s thrift of 
time and opportunity in saving souls. 

Application. —Suppose we take the lesson over 
into the life of our community. Suppose we look 
out from the classroom and see those who have gone 
forth into the “tumult and the shouting” to work 
and love with others all about them, just as Jesus 
Christ went about his humble life storing up precious 
observations from nature and from his fellow men, 
and always getting into the back of his mind the 
wonderful words of the great lawgivers and psalm¬ 
ists in the Old Testament. 

If we could make the children see that this thrift 
in the use of time and opportunity will bring to them 
an inward sense of duty and an inward knowledge 


WHAT IS THRIFT? 83 

of true love and faith, our lesson will not have 
been in vain. 

Activities. —The answers to the Study Topics 
may be entered into the notebook and, if possible, 
the pupils may get from banks and trust companies 
explanatory pamphlets which will be well worth 
saving in their notebooks and which may be re¬ 
ferred to possibly as the lessons progress. But if 
there is no time for an examination of these, the 
children will each of them have at least the col¬ 
lection to examine during their leisure at home. 

Assignment. —It is well to have such a personal 
hold on one’s class that they will not fail to respond 
to all demands just because of their loyalty to the 
teacher. But it is even more important that the 
teacher so develop the interest of the class in the 
subject matter of the course that the appeal will 
come more from it than from the personal relation. 
Try in making the next assignment to put this 
principle into effect. 

Books for Reference 

See pamphlets on Thrift, Bureau of Publications, 
Washington, D. C. 

Principles of Political Economy , Carver. Ginn & 
Company. 

Proverbs—Old Testament. 


CHAPTER XIX 


WHEN BECOME A SPECIALIST? 

From the time the baby begins to creep about 
the room, the mother, and often times the father 
too, sees in the growing child wonderful possibilities. 

“I think Tommy is going to be musical. I can 
quiet him when I play on the piano”; or, “I think 
Mary will want to go to college. Already she cares 
more for her picture books than for her playthings.” 

So we take it for granted that everyone possesses 
something within him that becomes eventually 
a desire, sometimes a great hunger to get into the 
world’s work and “be” and “do.” It is because of 
this desire to be and do that we have grieved in the 
past, as we have seen many boys and girls thrown 
out into society, in haste to make money without 
any equipment to be that thing which they long 
to fulfill. For that reason we often see much that 
is lovely in humanity going to waste. Our social 
workers call such mistakes the result of the work 
which is offered down “blind alleys.” In other 
words, we let a boy or girl go into some vocation 
or take some job for which he or she is unfitted 
and which never has any avenue of development for 
their economic or social nature. 

Aim. —The challenge, therefore, of this chapter 
is to make our boys and girls think about their 
present-day abilities and capabilities. At twelve or 
thirteen years of age every boy or girl should not 
only, like the beautiful boy, Jesus Christ, long to 

84 


WHEN BECOME A SPECIALIST? 


85 


be about his Father’s business, but know whether 
or not he is any way fit to be about that business; 
whether he is equipped along any one line, mental 
or social, for this superb work of serving God; and 
with all this, to do his best to prepare. 

Centers of stress. —A discussion of boys’ and girls’ 
particular and individual efficiency comes first, 
with the three topics “Letter Writing,” “Reading 
Aloud,” and “General Intelligence.” Under “Gen¬ 
eral Intelligence,” of course, there will be much 
opportunity for the boys and girls to suggest other 
marks of a specialist besides that of the Edison 
tests. Again the thought of the handy man and 
the one-job man is worth emphasizing. The im¬ 
portant thought is that most boys and girls at this 
age are not ready to choose a final specialty or voca¬ 
tion; but a trial and test, or at least an understand¬ 
ing of occupational work, should be presented in 
order that thought may be begun along these lines. 
It is most important that the children should realize 
that they need many kinds of work and play, just 
as they need many studies to round them out; and 
that as they are taking these different studies and 
enjoying these different little personal specialties of 
work or play they can be acquiring their first con¬ 
scious step of doing their work seriously and well, 
whether it be that of collecting postage stamps 
or of preserving foods and vegetables. 

Again we make the climax of the chapter the 
example of Jesus Christ, whose specialties, so Harry 
Emerson Fosdick tells us in his Manhood of the 
Master , were his emphasis upon friendship, nature, 
and books. 

Procedure. —In almost every hymn book John 
Addington Symonds’ poem, “A Loftier Race,” has 


86 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


been set to music. The poem is too long for the 
children to commit to memory, but it may well be 
sung as an opening hymn for the day’s worship, 
and the teacher may well spend time in prophesying 
our finer, higher race of men and women who some 
day will, through God’s help, bring about a nation 
where its citizens “shall live as comrades free,” 
and where 

“New arts shall bloom of loftier mold, 

And mightier music thrill the skies.” 

These arts and this music and this higher citizen¬ 
ship can only come about by a recognition on the 
part of the younger generation of their obligation to 
adapt their tastes and characteristics to such 
occupations as have in them the best chance of 
promotion to the finer and more unselfish living. 

As we present this lesson, we would suggest that 
the thought of a loftier race be held in the mind 
of the teacher throughout. Not that we are to 
become specialists in order to make money, but 
that the wealth that we get, by becoming special¬ 
ists and using our time and opportunities to the 
best advantage, shall help to bring about a touch 
of the divine in the daily life. 

Application. —As we look round about the com¬ 
munity we see specialists in all directions who are 
trying to bring about this finer living, this loftier 
race. The Study Topics offer opportunity for the 
points to be made under “Application,” and the 
text itself should be taken to heart. The teacher 
can well use it as a spur. 

Activities. —The Study Topics offer opportunity 
for a good deal of intensive investigation, writing, 
and study. The teachers may possibly have to 


WHEN BECOME A SPECIALIST? 


87 


help the children in thinking out who the special¬ 
ists are, and who those who have failed to make 
good as experts but who have certainly made good 
because they are all-round. An instance of this is 
the family physician of the old type, who is not 
a surgeon nor an eye specialist nor an ear authority, 
but whose mere entry into a sick-room brings de¬ 
light and encouragement. The eighth question under 
Study Topics is important, and each child might 
bring a little map cut from some old geography or 
a map taken from a railroad pamphlet which will 
help illustrate the notebook and be of use for further 
reference. 

Assignment. —By this time your class should 
have very few members who are not faithfully, and 
as a matter of interest as well as duty, preparing 
their lessons. If any such remain, try to bring 
them into line. Give them special assignments 
for the next lesson, or make the general assignment 
so attractive that they cannot fail to study it. 

Books for Reference 

The Man of Power , Hough. The Abingdon Press. 
The Man Who Dares , Prince. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER XX 


SAVE FOR THE SUNNY DAY 

There cannot be any rainy day, at least a rainy 
day in one’s mind and heart, if one begins when 
young to develop the resources of spiritual satis¬ 
faction. If during the sunny days they have bought 
intelligent leisure and well-spent play time through 
the delight of travel, of reading, of creating with 
the hands, as one grows older one gets a whole 
world of riches ready for latter-day harvesting. 

What do we really want for the sunny days on 
the way to old age? Some will say, “Money to 
spend.” Others will answer, “Time to do what 
one wishes to do, what one has longed to do and 
never found the moment in which to do it,” while 
others will clamor for the leisure that will bring 
further study or longed for travel; and still another 
one will simply say: “Give me opportunity which 
may bring anything out of a mysterious future; 
life has been so tame, so circumscribed. Give me 
opportunities for anything and I will snatch at 
them as the hungry child snatches the crust.” 

The opportunity may mean fame or the develop¬ 
ment of talents or so-called lines of success in the 
field of endeavor. 

The whole point is, How are we going to interest 
these children in their early adolescence to plan for 
a sunny day, to dream about a sunny day, and 
above all to make the effort to achieve the sunny 
day as an end to work for. I know a young girl— 

88 


SAVE FOR THE SUNNY DAY 


89 


one of my own pupils—whose mother sends her 
comfortably large checks every now and then in 
order that Elizabeth shall have another frock or 
another top coat. Instantly Elizabeth puts the 
money into the bank with a smile, for she is think¬ 
ing of her sunny day. The party gown she might 
have bought she makes with her own hands, saving 
probably fifty dollars, if not more, of the check 
that she has tucked away for these other things 
that she is always longing for. Once it was a beau¬ 
tiful etching. Another time it was a trip to New 
York that she might visit a special art exhibition. 
And the bank account is steadily growing mean¬ 
while, for her far-away sunny day in Italy. I 
mention this special case because I live with girls 
so many of whom believe that sunshine lies only 
in to-day. They spend as they go; they never look 
ahead; they do not save for the spiritual satisfaction 
of art and music and good books. And so I tell 
the story for the young teacher who may be lead¬ 
ing her boys and girls into thrift through these 
chapters, at the same time needing a bit of inspira¬ 
tion for themselves and their own sunny days, for 
Elizabeth has made me see that her way of saving, 
and at the same time spending, is the secret that 
J. Pierpont Morgan knew, and Mr. Frick and all 
the other great men who have loved art and encour¬ 
aged the love of art in others. 

Aim. —“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” 
is a rather commanding text. We hope to make 
the readers of this chapter eager to begin to save, 
in order that they may spend for larger objects 
than the everyday expenses. Moreover, we hope 
that the boys and girls will begin to think of money 
which is accumulating in the bank as something 


90 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


much more worth while than mere dollars and cents. 
We hope at the end of the lesson money will simply 
mean beautiful things, beautiful ideas, even beau¬ 
tiful ideals. 

Centers of stress. —The discussion of wealth as 
presented in any elementary book on Economics 
may be discussed at this point after the more in¬ 
formal chapters which precede the paragraph en¬ 
titled “Wealth.” Again, the habit of saving for 
the growth of the mind is an important point to 
make; and at this point we believe we can educate 
this younger generation to appreciate the people 
of other nations, as we urge them to travel, in 
order that they may have a larger understanding 
of society, and to develop better friendships be¬ 
tween countries. The thought that Jesus Christ 
should rise above the narrowness of the Jews around 
about him, and come and go with an understanding 
heart for all sorts and conditions of men, is an 
example which we want to present to the pupils 
with urgency. Our late war has built up barriers 
of prejudice and hatred oftentimes, and certainly 
barriers of misunderstanding. We feel quite sure 
that if Jesus Christ should come to live with us 
again, he would know how to settle difficulties which 
seem so insurmountable. 

Procedure. —Following the thoughts suggested in 
the introduction to this chapter, we might proceed 
by calling from each member of the class an anec¬ 
dote of wise saving or wise spending in the home 
which has already become a red-letter day or red- 
letter week for all the members of the family. Again, 
the same may be done with the growing library. 
A discussion of what books the children already own; 
what children’s books told them of foreign coun- 


SAVE FOR THE SUNNY DAY 


9i 

tries, so that they know little Dutch children, and 
the children of French peasants, and so on. 

The whole chapter is very simple so far as its 
psychology goes, yet it has in it opportunity for 
enthusiasm because the children can correlate it 
with their own family life and with their own dreams 
for by and by. 

Application. —Already we have discovered how the 
chapter applies to everyday life. The important 
thing is to see to it that the children leave the class 
room eager to begin to save, not just for the sake 
of the money, but for the vision of the future—the 
vision of storing away capital and interest, interest 
and capital for the sake of their own delight and 
spiritual growth. 

“First the blade, and then the ear, 

Then the full com shall appear.” 

The couplet from the Memory Quotation in this 
chapter contains the lesson for the day. Out of 
the seed comes the harvest; out of the little things 
come the great satisfactions. 

Activities. —The Study Topics have in them an 
unusual challenge, especially the fourth topic. That 
in itself might be the beginning of clubs which will 
last not only throughout the year but be carried 
on in the community life for years. The fifth topic 
gives an opportunity for original composition, and 
the seventh takes one over into real economics. 
If the teacher sees that some member of her class 
is especially interested in this question, it may be 
possible to send the boy to the bank to get financial 
advice upon the question. A selected list of men 
and women of wealth, who are also benefactors 
of mankind, may be made the subject of special 


92 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


biographies and the strong points in their character 
emphasized. Moreover, it would be well to put 
these biographies into the notebooks after they 
have been discussed in the class. 

Assignment.—The next lesson will require 
specially careful assignment to make it seem def¬ 
inite and concrete after these very practical lessons 
which we have been studying. Outline the lesson, 
or at least discuss its central idea in the assignment 
—not enough to take the interest and newness 
away from the text itself, but enough to create 
curiosity and point the way to its satisfaction. 

Books for Reference 

Principles of Political Economy , Carver. Ginn & 
Company. 

For magazine articles concerning Carnegie, Rocke¬ 
feller, Sage, etc., Pool’s Index . Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

A Course in Citizenship and Patriotism , Cabot. 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 


CHAPTER XXI 


RICH TOWARD GOD 

Making “the world safe for democracy” is not 
altogether successful, it seems. If one examines the 
Gospel, he will see that “loving your neighbor as 
yourself” is not the whole of the great command¬ 
ment. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind,” Christ gave as the first commandment. 
The fact that he said, “And the second is like unto 
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” in no 
way eliminates the importance and the necessity 
of the first commandment. “Blessed is the nation 
whose God is the Lord.” The woe of the world 
which has followed the Great War might be allevi¬ 
ated, we believe. We have been dull of understand¬ 
ing in our colleges, in our churches, in our Red 
Cross. We need the inspiration of a Haggai, whose 
flaming words stirred the people and showed the 
people of Israel that though they were rich in their 
business way they were saving themselves at the 
expense of God. We do indeed need a Cromwell 
with a fire to make us feel the common burden of 
the public trust to be a thing as sacred and august 
as the white vigil where the angels kneel. In our 
political life we need the power to be alone and 
talk with God. And the moment we undertake 
to do our work through the will of God and not our 
will, we recognize the attributes that belong to 
God. As a righteous God, we must see that there 

93 


94 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


is a righteous purpose in the works of his hands, 
and as partners with God we must desire the wel¬ 
fare and happiness of all his children and make 
every effort to work out the purposes of right¬ 
eousness. 

Aim. —The summary of the prize code on page 
133 sums up the aim of this chapter—loyalty. 
Loyalty to family, school, government, and human¬ 
ity is the challenge, and above all else, loyalty to 
God. 

Centers of stress. —The story of Haggai’s tact is 
important. Haggai had to be diplomatic because the 
people were so dull. He had to use plain words 
uttered in everyday language in order to get into 
the gray matter in the brains of the Israelites their 
wrongdoings. A plain-spoken man (whether a 
Haggai or a Mr. Hoover) is necessary to stir people, 
and individually sometimes we need a friend with 
a flaming heart who tells us the truth, no matter 
how much it hurts, in order to awaken us to our 
duty to God and our duty to our neighbor. Another 
point of emphasis lies in Doctor Abbott’s idea that 
our great American life doesn’t consist in the expan¬ 
sion of our country or in the quantity of our 
resources, but in the quality of the men who pushed 
across the continent and who have developed our 
wonderful resources. Of course the third stress 
lies in the challenge itself on page 132—that these 
are the days of preparation, the days when God is 
beginning to require of you, “that you live them 
in the spirit of courage, keen about your work and 
keen about your play.” 

Procedure. —The prize code should be com¬ 
mitted to memory. The poem by Mr. Monsell 
should be sung if possible; and if not, it should 


RICH TOWARD GOD 


95 


be read with great feeling and discussed carefully, 
the teacher interpreting the strength and power of 
the couplets. The Study Topics are very important 
in this chapter because here, again, we take our 
children over into the great world of tragedy, where 
men like Mr. Hoover are feeding the children of 
Europe at the very moment when the world seems 
so dull that we cannot understand why these things 
happen. 

Application. —The whole idea of loyalty is always 
one that appeals to boys and girls. It is possible 
that the title of the text, “Rich Toward God,’’ may 
seem at first inapplicable, but by the time the 
children have discussed the text and had explained 
to them Mr. Markham’s poem, “The Need of the 
Hour,” they will understand richness toward God 
and see that it does apply to everyday living. Voting 
with God simply means to put oneself as Jesus 
Christ did when he said, “Let this cup pass from 
me if it be thy will.” So too, with every boy and 
girl through prayer and the reading of God’s Word, 
he or she may come into close touch with the heart 
and mind of God in his beauty and lovingness. 

Activities. —The work in the notebooks is of 
great importance this week because we are to watch 
the newspapers and bring in cuttings into the class 
that may be pasted into the notebooks. If the 
teacher sees fit she can have the children write to 
different organizations that are at work for inter¬ 
national peace, and these pamphlets, oftentimes 
illustrated, can be pasted in. 

Assignments. —The central idea of the next lesson 
can be set before the class as an incentive to its 
study. Be sure to give a broad, rich idea of adven¬ 
ture, and do not let it become in the pupils’ thought 


96 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


the risk of life or the threat of great danger. Plan 
carefully, assign definitely, expect response, call for 
it at the next lesson time. 

Books for Reference 

Student’s History of the Hebrews , Knott. The 
Abingdon Press. 

Short Biographies, Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, 
Asbury. See Short History of the English People , 
Green. American Book Company. 

Hoover, see Pool’s Index for magazine articles. 
Houghton Mifflin Company. 


CHAPTER XXII 


HIGH ADVENTURE 

As we run back over the chapters upon wealth 
of money, time, and opportunity, we note certain 
truths. We have stated that our spiritual life must 
of necessity be based upon physical conditions; 
that we must have food, shelter, and clothing and 
that we must share our food and our shelter and 
our clothing with those who are unable to command 
these physical satisfactions. We have noted that 
money is defense and that investing and spending 
money are not only important, but that investing 
for others is even more important. The challenge 
of business and the absorption of interest which is 
a characteristic of genius the world over has been 
presented, and that intense single-mindedness of 
mind which is the characteristic of the flaming 
soul, was exemplified in Jesus in the Temple; so we 
have tried to challenge the members of the class to 
the realization of the fact that wealth of money, 
of time, and opportunity when at the highest 
becomes a kind of capital in a knowledge of God. 

Especially when we take into consideration the 
search for truth, the wealth that has come out of 
giving up everything in exchange for scientific 
knowledge, mere dollars and cents seem almost 
useless and worthless in comparison with those 
unsearchable riches which have come to man 
through discovery, invention, searching thought, 
steadfast trial, as the infinity of truth has been 
opened up. 


97 


98 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Then, too, we have discussed work, work and 
skilled labor, and the need of becoming a special¬ 
ist. We have challenged the class to become skilled 
in order that their fortune may give a hand and 
take a hand with others in the world. And, above 
all, we have emphasized consecration and loyalty 
to God, which brings a wealth of joy and satisfaction 
otherwise never attained. And now we come, 
lastly, to high adventure—the last chapter under 
wealth. Dreams and visions carry us over many 
a dull road. With Emerson we hitch our wagon 
to a star and forget the everyday dullness because 
we know something wonderful will happen, for 
every day something wonderful does happen if we 
are conscious of our fellowship with Jesus Christ, 
if, like the Master, we can think and do always 
the things that are well pleasing to him. 

Aim.—“Now faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” There 
would be no high adventure for us to aim at if we 
had not faith. No matter what we undertake, 
the little, everyday duty or the realization of a 
dream that has been ours for years, we must use 
faith while we are changing the vision into a real¬ 
ity. So this short chapter is an appeal to the chil¬ 
dren that they have faith in themselves, faith in 
their friends and neighbors, and, above all else, 
faith in God as their heavenly Father—yes, and 
faith in themselves to carry on Christ’s work in 
this world. 

Centers of stress. —Working like a galley slave 
for the thing we have in mind—that’s important 
to talk about. The Old Testament tells us that 
old men did dream dreams. That meant that they 
looked back into the past and saw the picture of 


HIGH ADVENTURE 


99 


the things that they had done. But we do not 
use that word “dream” as a picture of the past 
—we use it as a synonym with the word “vis- 

• 5 5 

ion. 

Again, another important topic to discuss is 
everyday adventure, and we suggest that the teacher 
tell of the remarkable things in everyday life that 
are constantly occurring which seem, as the philos¬ 
opher says, “As though fate takes us and uses us.” 

Lastly, we would stress the joy and delight that 
Jesus Christ had in everyday life. He was always 
telling people to be of good cheer. He was always 
looking over into the future. The fullest and noblest 
kind of daily living for the man Jesus Christ grew 
out of his oneness with the Father and faith in 
that oneness. 

Procedure. —Perhaps the second topic might be 
a point of departure as we open the lesson on high 
adventure. “Imagine how unhappy and worried 
we should be, when we write to friends far away, 
if we didn’t have faith in our post-office service.” 
Very likely this point of attack would create an 
interest in faith and the discussion of faith before 
we begin to read the text itself, where we begin 
to talk about the faith of the inventor and the 
reformer, who, taking a chance of his own vision, 
materializes it through physical forces into re¬ 
ality. 

Application. —An enumeration of what has hap¬ 
pened recently in the home and the school and the 
community will make the chapter seem very real 
and very much worth while. The important thing 
for the teacher to do is to keep the idea of high 
adventure above the everyday excitements and 
happinesses which are material. The teacher will 


> > r> 


TOO 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


do well to feel that the thought given to us in John 
Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, is a lasting one. 

“I only know I cannot drift 
Beyond His love and care.” 

I remember so well when I found those verses 
as a young girl. I had recently seen Mr. Whittier, 
and I recall now with pleasure the consecrated 
loveliness of his face with his white beard and 
expressive eyes. I felt sure that he meant the 
couplet; I felt sure that if I kept the faith, I too 
could not drift beyond the love and care of my 
Master. We must make these young boys and girls 
feel this fatherhood and this friendship if the in¬ 
terpretation of the first commandment is to be 
realized. 

Activities.—All that we have said informally 
which is really worth while should be entered into 
the notebook together with the direct answers to 
the questions. It would be well for the teacher 
to offer some special credit to the pupil who shall 
write the best story of high adventure in her own 
experience and that of her family, or tell the best 
story to the class. Perhaps the class would like to 
collect unpublished instances of high adventure 
related by their families or neighbors. 

Assignment.—Just the suggestion this time that 
you do not neglect it, nor let it get crowded out, 
nor allow it to become the perfunctory, “Be sure 
to study your lesson for next time.” 

Books for Reference 

Servants of the King, Speer. Missionary Education 

Movement. 


HIGH ADVENTURE- 


IOI 


Famous Hymns of the World , Sutherland. Fred¬ 
erick A. Stokes Company. 

In connection with Admiral Peary, General Goethals, 
and other people mentioned in the text, see Pool’s 
Index for magazine articles. Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

Great Expectations , Dickens. Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 




CHAPTER XXIII 
HAPPINESS 

The teachers who have followed the thought and 
plan of Living at Our Best realize that our definition 
of happiness is based on conformity to law and 
service. The older teachers have learned this 
definition through experience and the younger 
teachers, especially those who have come fresh 
from college and university training, realize that 
the search for truth, which is one phase of happi¬ 
ness, as well as the search for beauty, which is 
another phase, finds reality in both science and 
art through obedience to law and creative work. 
It would be an interesting chapter which we might 
write upon the principles which have been set 
forth by the great philosophers—the authors, from 
the days of Socrates to our present time under 
the leadership of Bergson and James and Royce, 
who have searched for an explanation of happiness. 

The writer has spent some time in running through 
the summaries of philosophers throughout history. 
It seems to matter very little whether it is Aristotle 
who is talking, or Immanuel Kant, or the man who 
is holding the chair of philosophy at Harvard, when 
their philosophy is all boiled down into a conserve 
which we can offer safely to young boys and girls 
(a sort of healthy jam which can be put upon the 
bread of life to whet the appetite and to sweeten 
the taste of the bread and the butter), it all comes 
around to the dear, old-fashioned phrase which we 

102 


HAPPINESS 


103 

have all heard as little children—“Be good and 
you 11 be happy.” 

And so in introducing the next nine chapters, 
which deal with the thought of happiness which 
children can get out of their daily life, the teacher 
will find that “being good” really is the only promise 
for lasting happiness; no matter at what angle we 
may approach the ideal, for happiness always is an 
ideal. It belongs to the story of God’s love for 
his children. “My joy I give unto you, and your 
joy no man taketh from you.” The unconquerable 
soul of Jesus Christ gives us the one reality of 
ideal happiness. 

Aim.—The aim of Chapter XXIII, which is 
entitled “Happiness,” may be summed up in the 
text, “Behold, we count them happy which endure.” 
Stevenson’s brave little couplet, 

“The world is so full of a number of things, 

I am sure we should all be as happy as kings,” 

does not for a moment mean that we are to be 
carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease. Not 
at all. If ever a man knew happiness through 
endurance, it was Robert Louis Stevenson. He 
knew that happiness was centered in the heart, 
whether one was wise or rich or great, and I have 
no doubt that as a young boy he had read to him 
by his famous old nurse the four lines of the old- 
fashioned verse which we quoted at the opening 
of the lesson. 

And our aim is also in this chapter to analyze 
the difference between pleasures which are fleeting 
and real happiness which is lasting. In order to 
fulfill this purpose of ours we have taken for the 
ideal example the sources from which Jesus Christ 


104 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


gained his happiness. The boys and girls who study 
this lesson should thereafter be happier for this 
experience and what it teaches them. 

Centers of stress. —Changing values in happiness 
is an important thought for the children to discuss; 
and at this point it might be well to discover whether 
a study of Living at Our Best has helped the mem¬ 
bers of the class to change any of their values in 
connection with health, wealth, and happiness. 
Another point for investigation is the statement 
that oftentimes happiness comes from the concen¬ 
tration upon the acts as we do the thing rather 
than upon the thing itself as it is accomplished. 
And, again, throughout the remainder of the text 
a knowledge and appreciation of how Christ lived 
in relation to his fellow men and to his heavenly 
Father as means for happiness, brings us to our 
third center of stress. 

Procedure. —Almost every paragraph contains 
some particular challenge to the individual boy or 
girl. The thought that health and wealth in them¬ 
selves cannot insure happiness can be illustrated 
in so many ways. As we go on with the lesson we 
can enumerate from personal experience many 
changing values and there is no question but the 
sentence, “Happiness does so much depend upon 
yourselves, this inner you,” will give rise to much 
conversation, and perhaps to some very lovely 
little examples of personal joy and growth in char¬ 
acter as the children tell their own stories. 

Application. —The soldier’s speech used as a 
Memory Quotation in this chapter, suggests to the 
writer the strange paradox of life. Here is a soldier 
who knows the joys of the open, the patriotic thrill 
of serving his country, the excitement which valor 


HAPPINESS 


105 


brings to him as it is aroused by all the campaign 
before the battle. And yet the soldier whom we 
quote, as he looks back over his life, does not glory 
in armies or the bivouac or the war song. He just 
sees the affection of the friends he has made, both 
men and women for whom he has only commenda¬ 
tion. He calls their friendship sweet and uplifting 
and consoling. He loves their truthfulness and help¬ 
fulness which has sprung up from the intimacies. 
No it is not the glamour of warfare; it is friendship. 
It is the full grown team play of life, and “in my 
eyes there is no limit to its value.” And so we can 
apply this lesson with the class. As they look back 
over their short twelve or fourteen years, do they 
remember the struggle to get their lessons, the 
fracases they have had in the nursery, the pitch 
battles that may have taken place in the school- 
yard? If they should recall these memories, there 
is something wrong with the wholesomeness of their 
minds and hearts. No, they should remember the 
helpful teacher, the wonderful nurse, the indulgent 
cook, the chauffeur, the very policeman on the 
street—all of them, friends who have helped and 
never counted the cost. 

Activities. —This list of the friends who have 
made life so sweet and uplifting may well be entered 
into the notebook. I can think of nothing but a 
tribute paid by a Standard-Oil man to a fifth-grade 
teacher. I had been a normal school supervisor of 
that fifth grade years before. There had been a 
red-headed, freckled-faced boy in the room. I had 
not seen him for years. Then I met him in a rail¬ 
road station, a well-groomed, prosperous-looking 
man. He came to me and introduced himself as 
the fifth-grade boy in Miss E.’s room. Did I remem- 


io6 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


ber him? Yes. I recalled the nose and the shock 
of red curls over the forehead. He told me that 
he should never have been the man that he is if 
it had not been for the wonderful relationship that 
he built up with his teacher; that he had not known 
“the joy of obeying the law” or “of being of service” 
until he reached that room where “happiness was 
a state of mind.” 

Such an anecdote may well be registered in the 
notebook. It clinches the thought; it gives sub¬ 
stance to the faith we have in the influence of a 
memory. 

These questions under Study Topics should be 
full of delight in the discussion. We have pur¬ 
posely introduced for discussion many lines of 
activity which bring happiness to different kinds 
of boys and girls and men and women. 

Again, as at the beginning, we would make quite 
sure that the class recognizes the value of the text, 
“Behold we count them happy which endure.” 

Assignment. —Have you got to the point where 
you enjoy assigning the next lesson (and preparing 
for its assignment!), and where the pupils enjoy it? 
If so, that is a sign that you are skillful in this phase 
of your work. 

Books for Reference 

Child’s Garden of Verses , Stevenson. Henry Altemus. 
A People’s Life of Christ , Patterson-Smyth. Fleming 

H. Revell Company. 

What Men Live By , Cabot. Houghton Mifflin 

Company. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


EACH FOR ALL 

The twelfth chapter of First Corinthians gives 
us the background for this chapter. We hope 
every teacher will reread those wonderful author¬ 
itative words of Saint Paul, studying into his point 
of view, realizing his philosophy. Recently I have 
been studying the lives of the group of men and 
women who made up the membership in the Con¬ 
cord School of Philosophy. Living in the twentieth 
century and realizing that the phrase “social service” 
is the slogan in all fields of work, it is interesting 
to go back to the group of thinkers and reformers 
and lovers of humanity who helped bridge over the 
thought of the nineteenth century into the active 
work of the twentieth. Emerson’s poem of “Each 
and All,” a little of which we quote in this chapter, 
suggests in poetry (and poetry that is the highest 
art of portraiture) the need of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury where individualism and the philosophy of 
laissez faire had become a menace to society. 

“All are needed by each one; 

Nothing is fair or good alone.” 

Yes, Saint Paul, preaching to the Corinthians, 
emphasized the principles that lie back of social 
service, “But now are they many members yet but 
one body.” For nearly two thousand years the 
world has been waiting for the poet to say, “Nothing 
is fair or good alone.” 

107 


108 LIVING AT OUR BEST 

Aim. —Our aim in to-day’s lesson is to simply 
take our American ideals, which are all grouped 
about the Greek word Demos —“the people”—and 
carry these boys and girls on and up into a larger 
faith in God and our country and the kind of happi¬ 
ness that comes from cooperating for the common 
wealth. 

Centers of stress. —This chapter has so many 
points to stress that it is rather embarrassing to 
ask of the teacher that she shall take time to em¬ 
phasize them all. The discussion of the quotation 
from Saint Paul’s first epistle is one. And, again, 
the little verses which have been quoted over and 
over again in so many textbooks are very well worth 
emphasizing. The prize code of conduct is worth 
committing to memory, and certainly the story of 
the crippled youth rings out a challenge that must 
be listened to. But above all else the class must 
not leave the church school until it has stopped to 
think, and think with fervor and consecration, that 
“Where two or three are gathered together in my 
name” makes a team with Jesus Christ and God 
working with us. 

Procedure. —Because there are so many points 
to make in this chapter, the procedure is step by 
step, one after another. We would suggest that 
the quotations from Saint Paul and the verses on 
“Somebody did a golden deed,” and the summary 
upon work from the prize code of conduct should 
be committed to memory. If possible, we would 
also suggest that the whole of Ralph Waldo Emer¬ 
son’s poem, “Each and All,” be read in the class by 
the teacher. 

Application. —The five questions under Study 
Topics take the thought of the chapter over into 


EACH FOR ALL 


109 


personal relationships. The answers to these ques¬ 
tions will prove in how far the chapter is applicable 
to the daily routine of the boys and girls. 

Activities. —Entering these lists that are asked 
for under question five will enrich the notebooks. 
Moreover, the first question will bring probably 
anecdotes of how the boy or girl has already seen 
useful service in town or city activities. Such 
anecdotes and stories should be transferred to the 
pages of the notebook. 

If possible, pictures of work that is being done 
in public health, child-welfare, playgrounds, etc., 
should be gathered together and pasted into the 
notebook. 

Assignment. —One of the secrets of appeal in 
lesson-getting is variety, newness, surprise. Can you 
make the next assignment “something different,” 
and yet have it fit your class and their needs? 

Books for Reference 

Each and All , Emerson’s Poems. Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address , Carmichael. The 
Abingdon Press. 

“Sir Launfal,” Lowell’s Poems. Houghton Mifflin 
Company. 

Recreational Leadership for Church and Community , 
Powell. The Abingdon Press. 

Play and Recreation for the Open Country , Curtis. 
Ginn & Company. 

Play in Education y Lee. The Macmillan Company. 


CHAPTER XXV 

PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE 

“May the best man win.” In our last section 
we discussed the high adventure of life. We set 
forth the need of faith. We challenged the youth 
of to-day to go forth believing not alone that all 
manners of mysteries are held in the day’s history, 
but a consciousness of our fellowship with Christ 
in working out God’s work in the world. 

Now if we really take life as an adventure with 
this fine kind of living, we have got to play our 
game with courage, with eagerness, with imagina¬ 
tion and with will power. As we examine the life 
of Jesus Christ, we find that he had these qualities 
to a high degree and that he trained his body to 
withstand temptation that might injure body, mind 
or soul; that he cultivated sympathy and love of 
fellow men and fulfillment of duty. And as he 
cultivated these feelings, he used the spiritual food 
necessary to feed his body and mind and soul. He 
prayed; he held communion and he worshiped. 
And out of this cultivation of the spirit he was 
able to practice what he preached, to perform 
unusual acts, and to remove sin and temptation 
from suffering souls. With what superb eagerness 
and imagination he met every event. 

We would call to the attention of the teacher 
verses from Henley, from his poem “Invictus,” 

“It matters not how strait the gate, 

How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the Master of my fate: 

I am the Captain of my soul.” 

no 


PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE 


iit 


Or again from Browning, 

“Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure; 
What entered into Thee 
That was, is, and shall be.” 

Aim.—This very brief chapter offers to the 
teacher an opportunity to bring in much outside 
material to help her develop the ideas set forth in 
the subtopics. Each one is developed very spar¬ 
ingly, and yet between the lines lies large sugges¬ 
tion. The purpose of these brief topics is to chal¬ 
lenge the young girl to play her game as the women 
of the Old Testament were challenged in the last 
chapter of Proverbs. “Many daughters have done 
virtuously,” but we would have the girls of the 
twentieth century play the game of this enlarged 
life as no women of the past ever dreamed of play¬ 
ing. And we would have the young men catch 
inspiration from them and order their lives as 
Coleridge summed it up in those memorable words 
which we quote from “The Ancient Mariner.” We 
would have our generation of young men become 
eager to serve their nation and other nations with 
an understanding, and it can only be done through 
consecration, 

“For the dear God who loveth us 
He made and loveth all.” 

Love of fellow men—oh, what good things, espe¬ 
cially what good friends, we shall find in the game 
of life! How we shall reap friendliness if we have 
sown good manners and friendship and “a faith in 
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”! 

Centers of stress. —Life is no mere game of 
chance and the game must be played with honesty 


112 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


every day in every way. Again, a point to be made 
lies in the sentence, “You will be the better player 
in the game of life the more you can change the 
seeming mischance into a good chance”; and, 
lastly, the challenge to try being worth while just 
to see how soon you will be getting more than you 
have earned. Certainly, those three centers of 
stress will give opportunity for much individual 
expression. 

Procedure. —In order to vary the lesson so that 
one Sunday may be a little different from another, 
the Study Topics may be discussed before the text 
is read or before the teacher develops from her own 
reading and experience the larger ideals of playing 
the game of life. 

Application.—The chapter from Saint Paul’s 
Epistle to the Ephesians, from which the text of 
the day is taken, may be read in full as a further 
opportunity for points which can be used as we try 
to apply the lesson to everyday living. Have we 
been longsuffering? Do we forbear one with another? 
And are we doing our work worthily? These are 
points well worth taking up with the boys and girls 
as we discuss the use of the gifts which are given 
to each child of God. 

Activities.—It might be well to copy the verses 
from Henley and Browning and other great poets 
who have written largely and courageously con¬ 
cerning their unconquerable souls. Tennyson’s 
“Crossing the Bar” is another poem of courage. 
This has been set to music, and the teacher might 
sing the glorious lines. 

Our notebooks by this time ought to be very 
valuable with pictures and poetry and lists and, 
above all, with the personal stories which show the 


PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE 


ii3 

growth of character on the part of boys and girls. 
Probably some of the notebooks will have failed, 
but we still have seven more chapters to study, 
seven more Sundays to record in the notebook. 
Seven is a golden number, full of mystic meaning, 
and the teacher may well challenge her class to do 
special work with the Study Topics in the note¬ 
book during the coming final lessons. 

Assignment. —If you tried the suggestion for 
assigning given in the last lesson, perhaps you will 
want to test your initiative and originality again 
in this one. But be sure not to strive for mere 
variety; keep the solid values before you, and make 
every item worth the time and interest of your class. 

Books for Reference 

Myths of Greece and Rome , Guerber. American Book 
Company. 

John Muir, John Burroughs, Roosevelt. See mag¬ 
azine articles, Pool’s Index. (For description of 
love of nature by great men.) 

Proverbs—Old Testament. 

In the Valley of Decision , Hough. 

Press. 


The Abingdon 


CHAPTER XXVI 


TIME OFF 

I want to quote from the introduction to an 
admirable book, Play and Recreation , written by 
Henry Curtis. He is speaking of the life which 
belongs to colonial and pioneer days. He has 
made us see that common perils and common 
hardships in the wilderness bring people together; 
that when a house and a barn were to be razed the 
community turned out to help; when the forests 
were to be cleared everybody helped in the log¬ 
rolling. And there were husking bees for the young 
people and quiltings for the older women. In other 
words, the life and times made of the rural com¬ 
munity a large family in which there was much 
cooperation, where everyone took an interest in 
everyone else. Mr. Curtis shows us that these 
conditions have passed very silently out of the 
life of our growing country. He emphasizes the fact 
that we are playing a game, that life itself is a 
desperate game of engrossing interest, and that 
the country takes the problem of money-getting 
and money-spending almost too much to heart, 
that it has lost its old love of adventure and romance 
and sociability. He challenges the educational 
world to restore, if possible, to the heart of society 
the gospel of play. 

We are rather serious-minded, and this chapter 
entitled “Time Off” has in it an element of serious¬ 
ness, but our avocations need not be in themselves 


TIME OFF 


ii 5 

somber. What seriousness we put into our recrea¬ 
tion should be purposeful and yet pleasurable. 

Aim.—Killing time or killing opportunity is like 
wasting money. Because we feel this so strongly, 
we have endeavored to bring before the students 
the joy there is in recreating our daily living by 
stimulating activities which belong to the spirit 
rather than to the body; and to make them expe¬ 
rience for themselves that joy. 

Centers of stress. —The choosing of avocations is 
important. We have only mentioned in the text 
one or two choices, but the teacher can readily 
present a whole list of interesting things which can 
be done in the odd moments at home and in the 
garden—all sorts of things which boys and girls 
can build up as avocations. 

Of course the movement to-day in school and 
church to put on pageants is of great interest to 
young people from twelve to eighteen years of age. 
The stories of the pageants and pilgrimages referred 
to in the text should be developed if possible, for 
they have literary and historic value as well as 
illustrative at this point. The example set by Jesus 
is a sacred one. More and more the biographers 
of great men are finding that the heroes whose 
characteristics are most lasting, have consciously or 
unconsciously followed in the footprints of the 
Master in his daily life when he chose his own time 
to recreate. Everyone has his work and the work 
seems to be different. This great man does one 
thing and another great man does another, but in 
their leisure hours the famous statesman, the great 
college president, the poet who has left his desk, 
or the railroad magnate, or the captain of industry 
—one and all turn to nature to wander over the 


ii6 LIVING AT OUR BEST 

open hillside, loving God’s green hills, glorying in 
the sunrise which lights the world or the sunset 
hour. Just as Mr. Patterson-Smyth has pictured 
Jesus Christ in his time off, reveling in the beauty 
of nature, so our great men have found satisfac¬ 
tion and inspiration in the same manner of using 
their leisure. This is an important center of stress 
that all great men love the beauty which is God- 
given in flowers and fields and laughing streams. 

Procedure. —The text with the centers of stress 
seems to offer the natural method for this particular 
lesson. The Study Topics are shorter than usual, 
but there is .much to talk about under each number. 
The text for the day, having three parts, may be 
emphasized especially together with the Memory 
Quotation. The thirty-fourth psalm and Jane 
Leason’s verses are in accord. There is one word 
in the text that is very important because it is a 
commanding word, a constructive word, not passive, 
not inactive. The psalmist says, “Seek peace and 
pursue it.” Peace and passivity are not identical, 
and the verb “pursue” has in it action, intent, work, 
will power, vigorous activity. Moreover, the verses 
themselves, which seem at first reading calm and 
cool, contain active verbs which mean doing things. 
In other words, time off must be active, not passive. 

Application. —The fifth and sixth questions under 
the Study Topics make application in the day’s 
lesson; and, moreover, the topic of outdoor recrea¬ 
tion will bring forth from the pupils much discussion 
of what they themselves do in their play time or 
the hours of the day when nothing is prescribed 
for them. 

Activities. —Because the Study Topics are so 
brief, we would suggest that a story of the Canter- 


TIME OFF 


ii 7 

bury Tales and the story of Queen Elizabeth and 
one of her pageants be used as material to enter in 
the notebook. The pictures, too, of Canterbury 
Cathedral and the Pageant picture of the Pilgrim¬ 
age should be pasted into the notebook. Queen 
Elizabeth’s photograph and the Earl of Leicester 
can be obtained on post cards from almost any 
collector of foreign pictures or in any art store that 
sells foreign prints. Various views of Kenilworth 
Castle might also be added to the collection. 

Assignment .—The next lesson is very concrete 
and will allow of an interesting variety of different 
methods in assignment. Study it, decide how you 
can best teach it, how the pupils can best learn it 
—and then make your assignment accordingly. 

Books for Reference 

Kenilworth , Scott. Houghton Mifflin Company. 

The Life of Jesus , Rail. The Methodist Book 
Concern. 

“Intimations of Immortality,” Wordsworth’s Poem. 

Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Social Principles of Jesus, Rauschenbusch. Asso¬ 
ciation Press. (Chapter XI, “The Christ as a 
Social Member.”) 


CHAPTER XXVII 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 

Chesterson says of H. G. Wells, “One can lie 
awake nights and hear him grow. ,, 

The power of leadership, Miss Follett tells us in 
her admirable book called The New State , is the 
power of “integrating. This is the power which 
creates communities. You can see it when two 
or three strangers or casual acquaintances are call¬ 
ing upon some one. With some hostesses you all 
talk across to each other as separate individuals, 
pleasantly and friendly to be sure, but still across 
unbridged chasms, while other hostesses have the 
power of making all feel for the moment related, 
as if you were one little community for the time 
being. This is a subtle as well as a valuable gift.” 

If one is a growing personality, if one has the 
vision to lead socially, whether a hostess at a dinner 
party or a teacher in a church school, the qual¬ 
ifications are about the same. And, moreover, the 
most dynamic qualification is that of vitality—the 
vitalized personality. In other words, the person 
who cares and grows. 

Aim. —By the time boys and girls are twelve 
years of age they are quite old enough to recognize 
leadership in other people, but in all probability 
they have not made a study of the art of leadership. 
This chapter, therefore, attempts to present the 
qualifications for leadership and a discussion of the 
great leaders of history who have been able to 

118 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


119 

realize the ideals which have made it possible to 
carry men to the great heights of supreme sacrifice 
or supreme power. The text, “Let every soul be 
subject unto the higher powers. For there is no 
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained 
of God,” clinches the ideal that our Memory Quo¬ 
tation sets forth: 

“Who shall dream of shrinking 
By our Captain led?” 

Centers of stress. —The ten points enumerated as 
the qualifications or characteristics of fine leader¬ 
ship should be stressed. In fact, these points should 
be committed to memory and so discussed that 
the children will keep them in their minds for many 
a day. They should become part of the subcon¬ 
scious self of the children. Dependableness and 
responsibility and unselfishness and sacrifice are all 
qualities that every good citizen needs. 

Again, as we read through the chapter we realize 
that it is quite true “the more content we are in 
fulfilling our everyday duty,” whatever the imme¬ 
diate duty, we know in the end, “duty will bring 
us happiness.” This point should be discussed and 
illustrations of the philosophy set forth. 

And lastly come the important thoughts in 
relation to Christ’s leadership and the work of 
the disciples as they attempted to carry out the 
great Christian Master’s plans to establish the 
kingdom of righteousness. It is well that the chil¬ 
dren shall realize that Jesus made the supreme 
statement of his leadership when he said, “I am the 
light of the world: he that followeth me shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 

Procedure. —Reading through the chapter and 


120 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


taking up the points which are to be especially dis¬ 
cussed as centers of stress, we soon come to the 
Study Topics, which have in them much that 
should call for discussion and actual study. It is 
possible that the teacher will feel it wise to give 
out special topics from the five points made on 
page 174. 

Application. —The story told of Abraham and 
his qualifications of a great leader will take the 
teacher into the field of personal ethics. Here is a 
man who has won the day. At a moment of great 
success, Abraham is tested. The king of Sodom 
offers him the goods which the army has captured. 
Over and over again men have been tempted in 
the same way, and many a leader of an army has 
met the test as the king of Sodom expected Abraham 
to meet it. But here is the man of high honor, clear 
imagination, and fine feeling. Abraham acts with 
decision; he makes the sacrifice; he will not take 
“from a thread even to a shoe latch.” This story 
and the story of the New Testament heroes have in 
them the basic character which applies to everyday 
living, especially fitting us to be leaders. A point 
to be made lies in the sentences, “Leadership holds 
down all our low instincts and brings forth our 
better emotions.” “The more we develop our 
leadership, the more we love our fellow men.” 

Activities. —The Memory Quotation should be 
learned by heart and the answers to the Study 
Topics written into the notebook. The last quota¬ 
tion from the words of Jesus, “Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free,” may be 
given as a special topic to the boy or girl in the 
class who sees in the wonderful statement its reality. 
Already some of the children can grasp the mean- 


FOLLOW YOUR LEADER 


121 


ing of the larger freedom which comes from brave, 
truth-telling, courageous honesty. 

Assignment. —The following lesson should make 
the pupils think, seriously and concretely. Try to 
arrange the assignment to make this result sure. 

Books for Reference 

How to Know the Bible , Hodges. Bobbs-Merrill 
Company. 

Acts of Saint Paul, Acts, New Testament. 

Student’s History of the Hebrews , Knott. The 
Abingdon Press. 

Great Characters of the New Testament , Hayes. The 
Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
GOOD FELLOWS 

One of our poets has said in speaking of the future 
of our American democracy, 

“I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone 
upon; 

I will make divine magnetic lands 
With the love of comrades, with the life-long love of 
comrades.” 

Never has society called upon all classes and 
ranks of the social orders to get together as to-day. 
Ministers from the pulpits are preaching get together 
and a great effort is being made, especially between 
ministers of different denominations, to answer 
this call of the social nature, this herd spirit which 
for so long a time—for centuries in fact—has been 
subordinated to faction and friction because of 
theology or politics or simply because of prejudice 
and misunderstanding. Our American life to-day 
is feeling the new spirit of fellowship. Possibly 
one reason why we are harking back to a larger 
fellowship is because of our study of psychology 
and of social psychology, where we have learned 
that it is perfectly natural for human beings to 
work together and play together and search for 
God together. 

Aim. —Just as we crave fellowship around the 
hearthstone in the home life or in the workshop 
or in big business, so too this spiritual nature of 
ours craves an understanding of spiritual laws. 
The fellowship which finds the greatest satisfaction 
—the only lasting satisfaction, in fact—is the 

122 


GOOD FELLOWS 


123 


higher fellowship which we have tried to present 
in this chapter to the young people. We have 
attempted to show that the human social instinct 
is at its height when, like the disciples who sat at 
the feet of Jesus Christ, we get together for the 
communion with the Son of God. We can only do 
this by overcoming our prejudice, by recognizing 
the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, 
and by pressing the challenge that we, like the 
good fellows in the obscure fishing villages of Galilee, 
can enter into comradeship with our Master. 

Centers of stress. —“We all want our Fridays.” 
I feel quite sure that the children will recognize 
this as an important thought, that if any one of us 
were Robinson Crusoe, we should be only too 
thankful to have a Friday turn up to bring us 
problems and to bring us fellowship. 

Again another point which we shall wish to dis¬ 
cuss because it is very important is the thought, 
under “Higher Fellowship,” that our spiritual 
natures become hungry and thirsty after the mysteri¬ 
ous righteousness which we know is possessed by 
our heavenly Father. In the worst of us there is 
always something of the best of us, and that best 
in us beats against the cage of human circumstances 
as it longs to get out into the larger freedom which 
comes with our sonship with God. 

Again, there is the thought that this comrade¬ 
ship with Jesus can never be a comradeship of leisure. 
We quote the lines, “They were to be no cloistered 
saints who could sit at leisure. They were to be¬ 
come fishers of men and they must be prepared to 
be comrades of Jesus in his work. It was the be¬ 
ginning of the kingdom of God.” 

Procedure. —Under silent comrades one may not 


124 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


only discuss the thought presented, but the teacher, 
if possible, should bring into class Emerson’s essay 
on “Friendship.” The essay presents friendship 
and comradeship from many different angles and 
always with such delicacy and exquisite spiritual 
idealism, and it is not too difficult for the children 
of this age if the teacher interprets the thoughts 
one by one. It would be impossible to read it 
aloud, but there are certain sentences in it which 
are well worth offering to them as thoughts to be 
imbedded in their notebooks for further reference. 

As we continue the reading of this chapter the 
teachers will find that there is an opportunity for 
discussion in connection with the competition which 
is carried on in every workshop; in our public 
schools. And again, the great faith which is set 
forth in the paragraph entitled, “Jesus’ regard for 
the day’s work” should be taken up and talked over 
at length. 

Application. —Here and there throughout the 
whole chapter there are many points which can be 
used for application, but the important thought lies 
in the Memory Quotation. At the present moment 
our world is divided. In order to clarify the soul 
of society, this song of peace may well be repeated 
the length and breadth of the land. Mr. Schermer- 
horn has expressed in some fifteen or sixteen lines 
the whole gamut of fellowship when made a reality. 

“Wealth and power shall perish, 

Nations rise and wane; 

Love of others only 
Steadfast will remain.” 

We must teach the children to overcome their 
love of wealth and power to grow understanding 


GOOD FELLOWS 


125 


in mind and spirit; to see in black and yellow races 
qualities which may be respected and ideals which 
may be admired. We must teach the children that 
our world is not necessarily made up of pigeom 
holed nations, but that all these nations are mem¬ 
bers one of another in the great family, whose head 
is the Master. 

Activities. —Our Study Topics offer much research 
work in magazines and newspapers. The eight 
points suggest so many thoughts that it may be 
well to make them separate topics for a girl here 
and a boy there to look up and then pool the knowl¬ 
edge in such a way that all the answers shall be 
entered into the notebooks. For instance, in the 
sixth example: The question itself might be answered 
on the spur of the moment without any difficulty. 
On the other hand, the question might be given as 
a special topic to some boy who will talk it over 
with his family at home and be able to bring in 
illustrations of men and women who have from the 
days of their life in the schoolroom, carried on such 
fine fellowship with their group and shown such 
qualities of leadership that they have become dis¬ 
tinguished people in the church or the state or in 
society at large. 

Moreover, the third question is full of thought 
which should be worked out either by the teacher 
or by some one pupil who cares a good deal about 
our national characteristics. When we think of 
our forty-eight States, all bound together by the 
federal government, we realize at once the possi¬ 
bility of North, South, East, and West getting 
together for the highest good of our citizenry. Yes, 
each question has in it much to discuss, and when 
written out will enrich the notebook largely. 


126 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Assignment. —To discuss with the pupils how 
they think a lesson should be prepared is often the 
very best way of assigning it. 

Books for Reference 

Robinson Crusoe, Defoe. A. L. Burt Company. 
Saint Mark’s Gospel —New Testament. 

Saints and Heroes , Hodges. Henry Holt & Com¬ 
pany. 

Sky Lines , Luccock. The Abingdon Press. 


CHAPTER XXIX 
LET THE PEOPLE RULE 

In a previous chapter we have quoted from Miss 
Follett’s The New State. If the people are to rule, 
she tells us, we must educate our younger people 
to want higher standards by interpreting their own 
experience to them and by getting them to think 
in terms of cause and effect. In other words, she 
says, “We need education all the time, and we all 
need education/’ And this education can only be 
acquired through modes of living and acting which 
shall teach us how to develop the social conscious¬ 
ness. So far we have been a country of expansion, 
stretching out from the Atlantic seaboard across 
the great mountain ranges and across the Mississippi 
Valley, peopling plains and plateaus, hillsides and 
valleys. As we have pushed across the continent, 
building up homesteads and communities and 
finally great, seething cities, it has been about all 
we could do to exist and to talk liberty and to dream 
of a real democracy. But the dream as yet has not 
come true. Only now are we beginning to be con¬ 
scious of the fact that we have never tried democ¬ 
racy. When Mr. Wilson uttered the slogan, “To 
make the world safe for democracy,” he was still 
talking in terms of the “dream world,” not in the 
terms of reality. But in our new state we shall 
be pretty safely educated for democracy, as Mr. 
Sharp prophesies, and the new state is certainly 
on the way. 

Aim. —This chapter presents the thought that 
this generation of boys and girls are the product 

127 


128 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


of a new impulse. We are an age which is demon¬ 
strating the visions which Lincoln, Roosevelt, and 
Wilson have seen in the past. Our demonstration 
took the form of sacrifice during the war when this 
young generation gave itself uncompromisingly to 
battle. But the time has come now when peace 
measures offer a demonstration quite as noble and 
serviceable as war measures. We like to think 
that these boys and girls who may be studying this 
chapter will feel the importance of their service 
and the challenge of these ideals which they are to 
work out in the social consciousness by taking 
responsibility, by relating themselves and by inter¬ 
relating themselves with the work of other people 
whom they touch in the community through the 
churches and the social clubs. 

Centers of stress. —The growth of democracy 
since the days of Pericles is an historical fact worth 
emphasizing. It seems strange to go back to the 
days of Pericles and read the great speeches by his 
contemporaries, speeches that ring with the oratory 
of democracy, and yet realize that four hundred 
thousand slaves were at work for these same twenty 
thousand members of society who called themselves 
the Democracy. 

And, again, it is astonishing for us to realize that 
it was only a little while ago that the people of the 
South and many in the North believed that democ¬ 
racy could exist at the same time that Negro slavery 
existed. Again, to-day we are becoming conscious 
that in the industrial world there can no longer 
be selfdom. There can no longer be exploitation 
of men and women at the looms or in the mines. 
New ideals are being worked out all the world over 
to prevent slavery in industry, just as seventy-five 


LET THE PEOPLE RULE 


129 

years ago society became conscious that a political 
slavery was a thing not to be tolerated. 

A third center of stress lies in the thought that 
we are building up a neighborhood consciousness, 
a community vision. I doubt if the teachers them¬ 
selves can look over into the future with the same 
joyousness that the boys and girls may look into 
their futures, for we belong to the older generation 
and we are almost at times pessimistic over prac¬ 
tical politics, but we do know that this boy of twelve 
or fourteen and this girl of twelve or fourteen has 
before him or her larger opportunities for spiritual 
growth than we in our generation ever dreamed of. 
We know with Katherine Trask that this younger 
generation is a valiant company, moving on to 
herald the glad birth of a new day and that it is 

“An army quiet, unregarded, small, 

Devoid of flaming arms and armaments, 

But terrible with banners: strong in soul: 

Brave men and women with their hearts aflame 
To dare, to do, to help and to endure.” 

I think if we sit with our little group of boys 
and girls and look into their faces and realize that 
they must be the conquering army, our hearts will 
send up prayers that we in our day and generation 
will help these boys and girls to be the brave men 
and women which the poem challenges. 

Procedure. —The second paragraph of this chap¬ 
ter will start the class discussion. Already the 
children know that round about them in their com¬ 
munity there are people with ideals who dom¬ 
inate the life of society. Already they realize that 
citizenship is an ideal and that some people are out 
of the game of good citizenship and others are 
playing it as a high adventure, playing the game 


130 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


fairly and splendidly. Moreover, as they proceed 
in the lesson, they are able to tie the thoughts pre¬ 
sented in connection with Lincoln’s vision to what 
they have already learned in their school history. 
The challenge suggested under the American com¬ 
monwealth is not too difficult, we think. Discuss¬ 
ing the word “commonwealth” brings us to the 
happy thought of common weal and that we must 
mix with all sorts and conditions of people for the 
common good. 

Application. —Certainly the statement made by 
Sir James Bryce, that in a democracy one’s duty 
is not only its acceptance but to realize equality 
and to make himself pleasant to his equals is a 
point of departure for discussion and one which 
ought to apply to every one of us. We can make 
application also with the thought that in living and 
acting together we gain a social consciousness. 
This statement will give opportunity for personal 
contact and so, too, will the statement “that this 
social consciousness brings us to new ideals in 
regard to helpfulness; that every one is to help every 
one else not only in the political relationship but 
in churches and social clubs.” 

Activities. —“A city that is set on a hill cannot 
be hid” and a country that is before the public eye, 
a country that is world watched as America is to-day, 
gives opportunity for much intensive thought. We 
have attempted under Study Topics to present this 
thought. We know that some of the questions 
are very difficult for young boys and girls to think 
about, but we feel quite sure the teacher will be able 
to so present the backgrounds of these political and 
historical thoughts that the children will be the 
better for the discussion. In all probability some 


LET THE PEOPLE RULE 


131 

of the questions will have to be taken home and 
some thought put upon them by fathers and mothers 
as well as by the teacher. Under the seventh 
question, for instance, there is so much to think 
about. That long story of the struggle over the 
Articles of Confederation, their usefulness for the 
time being, and then the method by which they 
were thrown aside and the Constitution drawn up, 
gives a picture of our slowly developing country. 
And that slow growth, of course, is not at all unlike 
the very slow and discouraging evolution of our 
larger relationships which are forming through the 
thoughts of a League of Nations. 

The challenge of the text we hope will find a 
place in the notebook. “Ye are the light of the 
world” and “A city that is set on a hill cannot be 
hid,” “If the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall 
it be salted?” are all thoughts very precious and 
very much worth while as titles for individual 
compositions. 

Assignment. —The following lesson on patriotism 
should call forth the best thought and effort on 
the part of both teacher and class. Take the class 
into your confidence. Outline to them briefly the 
lesson. Ask how they think it should be studied. 
Lead them to make their own lesson assignment— 
then they will feel like holding themselves respon¬ 
sible for its preparation. 


Books for Reference 

Liberty and Administration , Alexander. Marshall 
Jones Company. (Chapters on Americanization 
and American Self-Revelation—a Middle West 
Viewpoint.) 


I 3 2 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


The Sovereign People Dorchester. The Abingdon 
Press. 

Publications of a League of Nations. See pamphlets 
published by various American Organizations for 
Peace. 

Steps in the Development of American Democracy , 
McLaughlin. The Abingdon Press. 

Liberty Documents , Hill. Longmans, Green & Co. 







CHAPTER XXX 


“MY COUNTRY, ’TIS OF THEE” 

In these days, when international fervor runs high 
and we are asked to think of all the nations of the 
world, and especially the fifty-two nations that have 
bound themselves together through the League of 
Nations, it is like coming home to turn to our own 
wonderful country. The authors of this text believe 
in the League of Nations, and believe that the 
time will come when the nations of the world can 
live together with interrelationship as our own 
country at this moment lives without great friction. 
Our country is so wonderful! Forty-eight States, 
peopled by all sorts and conditions of men; knit 
together by thousands and thousands of miles of 
railroads and canals; offering the necessities of life, 
food, shelter, and clothing, in such abundance that 
we are said to be beyond the dreams of avarice. 

Not that we have no problems in our national 
life. Not that capital and labor are not still at great 
variance; but this country of ours is infinitely in 
advance of other nations, awake to the solution of 
problems that a democracy must of necessity de¬ 
velop in its first century.' And so the patriotic 
teacher of this chapter will, I feel sure, delight to 
bring before the pupils the spirit of “America.” 

Aim. —Our purpose in this thirtieth chapter is 
to emphasize the ideals of democracy and to pre¬ 
sent the kind of leadership which has made it possi¬ 
ble for the democracy to become more than inde- 

133 


134 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


pendent in character and larger in its obligations 
of citizenship. Moreover, we have attempted to 
show that the mainspring of our ideals of citizen¬ 
ship had its beginning in that wonderful faith of 
the Puritans and other pioneers who in their 
development of the character of the country never 
forgot that there might be a kingdom of God on 
earth when men should be ready to follow the 
leadership of Jesus Christ. And out of this we seek, 
of course, to make our pupils better citizens and 
Christians. 

Centers of stress. —First, we must make the chil¬ 
dren see the opening up of the country in the 
eighteenth and nineteenth century, as the little 
groups of people made their way across the moun¬ 
tain passes into the rich plains of the Mississippi 
Valley. Patriotism must be visualized as well as 
felt. Our country must mean, not the picture of 
the old geography with its forty-eight colored 
States, but an actual moving-picture visualization 
of the continent as we cross from the Atlantic 
seaboard to the Pacific shores. 

Again, another important point to emphasize in 
this chapter is the story of American history. We 
say that, no matter where the reader’s home may 
be, the story of our American life as it has crossed 
the continent inspires him. So we would suggest 
to every teacher wherever she may be located, 
that the local history of the environment be dwelt 
upon for a little while in order that the stories of 
the development of the town or city shall in one 
way or another be tied up to the history of the 
country. It may be in one locality Indian stories. 
It may be in another locality, the circuit court; 
or, again, Civil-War heroes, or a newly made State. 


“MY COUNTRY, TIS OF THEE’ , 


135 


The boys who came back from the Great War 
may be the only heroes as yet about whom the 
class may talk. As we turn the pages of this chapter 
we find a third center of stress under the title “Our 
Responsibility.” Obligation to one’s good citizen¬ 
ship necessitates our recognizing and carrying out 
the Golden Rule in our daily living in the home, in 
the school, on the playground and in the church. 
This thought should be elaborated with examples 
of those persons in the town who have felt this 
obligation and who have carried out the Golden 
Rule. 

Procedure. —The teacher may well open this 
lesson by reading aloud herself Mr. Hosmer’s four 
verses given in the Memory Quotation. There will 
be a hymnal or song book in the classroom, of 
course, and it would be well to compare Dr. Smith’s 
hymn with Mr. Hosmer’s thoughts. Then, too, 
if there is time, we would suggest that Miss Bates’ 
hymn “America the Beautiful” be also read. Each 
hymn is quite different from the other; each hymn 
is worthy of discussion; each hymn has its peculiar 
message and we believe that Miss Bates’ hymn 
visualizes our American continent in a unique way. 

Application. —We have challenged the class in the 
sentence, “Every day since Saint Paul started upon 
his journeys to the Gentiles the gospel of Jesus 
Christ has helped to found nations and opened the 
way to greater progress.” What are we going to 
do about it in our journeys? Are we one family? 
Is there a brotherhood of man? Do we acknowledge 
the common Father in heaven? If so, to what 
extent are we leading others in this democratic 
country to carry on the ideal? of citizenship in the 
kingdom of God. 


136 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Activities. —The text reads, “And in thy seed 
shall all nations of the earth be blessed; because 
thou hast obeyed my voice.” Aside from the 
regular work of copying into the notebook the 
answers to the questions under Study Topics, I 
would suggest that the twenty-second chapter of 
Genesis be read and the story which lies about the 
text be entered into the notebook also. I would 
also suggest that little compositions be written 
upon the nations of the earth. By this I mean brief 
resumes of what the different nations have con¬ 
tributed. For example, Greece gave to the world 
art and philosophy, Rome gave to the world 
statute law and great military expansion, etc. 
Through such summaries the children may have 
some idea of the blessedness of nations and of the 
work that has been accomplished by nations and 
the character and personality of nations. This 
can be worked out without much effort. One child 
in the class may have access to certain magazine 
articles or histories concerning one nation, while 
another child may have a library at home that 
contains books which will give much information 
along another national line. Pictures can be intro¬ 
duced with special success in this chapter. Pictures 
of men who have been strong in following the ideals 
of democracy and photographs of national capitals, 
of great European cities, etc., may be used to 
advantage. 

Assignment. —We are nearing the end of the 
lessons. Make the last few the best, and so leave 
a good impression. Use special care in approaching 
the next topic so that egotism and over-confidence 
may not arise instead of the sense of responsibility 
aimed at. Perhaps each member of the class might 


“MY COUNTRY, TIS OF THEE” 137 

think of the way in which he or she is the hope of 
the world. 

Books for Reference 

Winning of the West, Roosevelt. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons. 

American Citizens and Their Government, Colegrove. 
The Abingdon Press. 

Christ in Everyday Life, Bosworth. Association 
Press. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


ARE YOU THE HOPE OF THE WORLD? 

In the last chapter the physical side of our United 
States of America was presented. We did not 
speak of the inventions, the discoveries in science 
and the educational advantages which our national 
life offer. We did not discuss the twentieth-century 
power which lies in our production and industry. 
But far more important than our great rivers and 
lakes, our mountains and valleys; far more im¬ 
portant than mines and mills, ships and factories, 
automobiles and hotels, is the spirit of youth which 
lies in the future. Mr. Wells has written a little 
book called The Discovery of the Future. It is worth 
reading. We Americans may well feel that the 
eagerness and health and high-heartedness of the 
people of the United States promise great things 
for humanity. 

Aim. —Mr. Hermann Hagedorn addresses the 
boys and girls in his book entitled You Are the 
Hope of the World. In a paraphrased form we too 
have followed the little book, borrowing its fine 
spirit and challenging the boys and girls to measure 
themselves and to apply Mr. Hagedorn’s standards. 

Centers of stress. —The questions in the third 
paragraph are important. As I have said, they are 
important to bring before the class without much 
discussion. The teacher can talk about chivalry; 
she can talk about living up to the challenge of 
cleanliness of body and soul without making the 
questions too personal. 


138 


ARE YOU THE HOPE OF THE WORLD? 139 


A second point of importance lies in the last 
sentence on page 129. This is a happy thought too, 
that where we put will power and imagination upon 
goodness and healthfulness and happiness, then 
suddenly we begin to realize how good and healthy 
and happy we are, because our wills and God’s will 
are one. 

Another point of importance lies in the sentence, 
“We want to see all-round people, and ideals.” 
We want to be unprejudiced. It is so hard for 
children to hear grown-up people make prejudiced 
statements and not catch the thought. But this 
younger generation must overcome the prejudices of 
the last generation. Race hatred must be elim¬ 
inated as well as hookworm disease. The scientific 
Sunday school teacher should be able to cure prej¬ 
udice as a young physician working in the 
Rockefeller Foundation learns how to prevent 
diseases that are contagious. 

And, lastly, a center of stress lies in the question, 
“Do you believe it right to gather together thousands 
and thousands of boys between the ages of eighteen 
and thirty for warfare? This question in itself 
would be a sufficient point of stress if there were 
not the others which have preceded it. It is most 
important that the boys and girls who within a 
few years are to become the voting citizens of the 
country think straight and think strongly of the 
duty of peace. 

Procedure. —If possible, the teacher should obtain 
from the public library Mr. Hagedorn’s book, You 
Are the Hope of the World, and present not only 
the thoughts which have already been set forth in 
this chapter but other thoughts. The book is very 
important and will hold the attention of every mem- 


140 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


ber of the class as the teacher asks the questions: 
“Are you loyal? Are you chivalrous? Are you 
clean in body and mind? It will not be wise to 
expect direct answers or definite answers. The 
questions are offered more to excite introspection 
than to command direct replies. But the question, 
“Are your hearts big?” is one that can be discussed, 
I think, and discussed with interest and enthusiasm. 

Again, as we go on and read the text it is well 
to pass over as far as possible some of the indict¬ 
ments made by Mr. Hagedorn. We believe that 
construction is wiser than destruction and that hope 
is better than criticism. We hope that boys and 
girls are not reading the sporting pages of cheap 
magazines. We hope that they are not spending 
too much time at cheap dances or at the movies. 
We hope, as teachers and writers and ministers, 
that the dark side of society is not as dark as it is 
painted by authors and orators. And so we would 
set this lesson before the children with courage 
on our part, in order that they may themselves 
display new courage and catch the inspiration which 
comes from choosing the finer things of life rather 
than those of less nobleness. 

Application. —The statement that we do not 
doubt but that the boys and girls of to-day line up 
on the bright side of the two pictures drawn by 
Mr. Hagedorn makes the point from which our 
application may be carried on. We are pretty sure 
that the boys and girls in our class wish to do right 
and wish to increase the sum of rightness in the 
world. The important thing for us as teachers 
to do is to urge the boys and girls to develop the 
“wishing” and “willing.” 

Activities. —James Russell Lowell’s poem “Father- 


ARE YOU THE HOPE OF THE WORLD? 141 

land” is possibly a little old for these boys and 
girls. It is one of the few mature Memory Quota¬ 
tions which we have offered throughout the book, 
but we have quoted only three verses of the poem, 
choosing those which seem to present thoughts 
which boys and girls ought to be able to understand. 

We have spoken in previous chapters of our 
local environment. The children will realize how 
closely they are connected with the community. 
But just because at this age the boys and girls have 
a vision of growing manhood and womanhood, so 
too they must have yearning spirits of something 
beyond the scant borders of their local daily expe¬ 
rience. I feel quite sure that a boy who is going 
to be worth while as a man must at times say with 
the poet Lowell, “My Fatherland, noble as the blue 
heavens wide and free,” and that the true man’s 
birthplace is out in the world-wide fatherland. 

This poem of the Fatherland will not lend itself 
to memorizing as well as to discussion and, possibly, 
paraphrasing. The Study Topics are very brief 
for this week, but they are far-reaching. So too is 
the text which we hope will serve as a subject for a 
composition. 

Assignment .—Make the last lesson the very 
best. The topic is a rather difficult one, but has 
great possibilities. Talk to your class about the 
central idea of this closing chapter. Stimulate 
interest in it, appeal to high thought, ask for special 
attention in preparation, give each a feeling of 
personal responsibility and obligation. 

Books for Reference 

The Field of Social Service , edited by Davis and 

Herman. Small, Maynard & Company. 


142 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


U. S'. Citizenship , Mains. The Abingdon Press. 
The Validity of American Ideals, Mathews. The 
Abingdon Press. 

How to Help , Conyngton. The Macmillan Com¬ 
pany. 


5 


CHAPTER XXXII 
“SOUL-KEEP” 

The last chapter of our book brings us into the 
world of reality: the world of eternal things, for, 
after all, we teachers know that material things 
are temporal and that the divine spark which comes 
from God and returns to God is the important 
mystery in each one of us. As we sit with our 
group of children and look into the eager young 
faces we know that the reason we are teaching them 
lies in their possession of the divine imagination. 
The greatest gift that God ha9 given man or woman 
is his power to influence his fellow men. A mother’s 
joy in helping to shape her child’s life, a father’s 
delight in his son, a lover’s rapture in the woman 
whom he has won—each and every one finds reality 
in this mystery we call soul. 

Aim. —Not only is the object of our education 
to get at a man’s soul, but we have tried in this 
chapter to present to the boys and girls a realiza¬ 
tion that they must turn to God for guidance and 
blessing as they become conscious of the growth 
of their souls. Our problem is twofold. We not 
only wish to urge upon the boys and girls the power 
of prayer in their own lives but the example of 
Jesus Christ in his prayers. 

Centers of stress. —The first, the importance of 
the prayer of little children, and, secondly, the power 
of the Lord’s Prayer, which takes on a new meaning 
as we arrive at the age of from twelve to fourteen 

143 


144 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


and begin to realize how this prayer taught to us 
by Jesus Christ expresses exactly what we really 
need to ask of God. Then, lastly, comes the great 
joy which we discover in Jesus Christ’s prayer to 
his Father when he prays for you and for me. 
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also 
which shall believe on me through their word.” 
Nowhere in the Bible is there such glorious promise 
as in these few words taken from the heart of Jesus 
Christ’s prayer, words that through the ages have 
comforted saints and sinners, young and old who 
have learned to love the Master. With this prayer 
of Jesus comes another point which we must stress 
with the children: “The secret of successful living 
is victory over conflicting emotions, and that brings 
peace—peace which comes from an inner harmony.” 
Or, according to Saint James, when we live at our 
best, we are living with personal integrity and in 
active service. “Pure religion and undefiled before 
God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world.” And again, and lastly, 
to quote Jesus Christ: “And the King shall answer 
and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Inas¬ 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 

Procedure. — I think I should like to take the 
Memory Quotation and read it aloud to the class 
and talk about it before I should begin this lesson, 
which has so much that is sacred and intimate in 
it that one must, I think, put the class into a frame 
of mind. Cicero once said, “I must conciliate my 
audience before I appeal to them”; and these lovely 
lines of Frances R. Havergal will, I believe, lift the 
thoughts of the children and get them ready for 


“SOUL-KEEP” 


145 


the beauty of the chapter entitled “Soul-Keep.” 
After the poem has been discussed, the chapter can 
be read, paragraph by paragraph, emphasizing as 
we have suggested the important thoughts set 
forth in Centers of Stress. 

Application. —Are we living the real life, the 
genuine life? Are we free from contradictions? 
Have we learned to serve God and not Mammon? 
Are we rising above the old, bad habits of har¬ 
boring two sets of mind? These are questions which 
apply in everyday life. If we accept God and Jesus 
Christ, the text tells the children, then they must 
live with God and follow the leadership of Jesus 
Christ. And as we run through his judgment of 
what a human soul must be like, we learn that 
he would have us feed the hungry and the thirsty. 
He would have us clothe the naked and visit the 
sick and those in prison. We know that he would 
have us tender with little children and brave for 
the sake of women. Above all he would have us 
rejoice in sacrifice—the sacrifice that brings a sense 
of oneness with God’s beautiful world all around 
us, making us one with God. 

Activities. —The Study Topics should be answered 
and placed in the notebook. The text should be 
committed to memory. In fact all the texts that 
are quoted in this chapter might well be committed 
to memory and short compositions written by the 
members of the class upon each one. The Memory 
Quotations which we have already noted as so very 
lovely, may well be paraphrased or made the sub¬ 
ject of a personal acknowledgment by the children 
—a written acknowledgment that they have tried 
to give their wills to God and their hearts and above 
all else, their love. 


146 


LIVING AT OUR BEST 


Books for Reference 

Meaning of Prayer, Fosdick. Association Press. 
The Peaceful Life, Kuhns. The Abingdon Press. 
The Servant in the House, Kennedy. Harper & 
Brothers. 


LAST WORD 


Together we have covered the thirty-two chap¬ 
ters of Living at Our Best. As authors, we feel 
that the book will be of service to the church schools 
provided you teachers not only cooperate with us 
in interpreting the text, but if you will write to 
us personally, or to the editor, making suggestions 
of where it would be possible to improve the text 
when we issue a new edition. A book of this nature 
should be a growing book. Any criticism will be 
most gratefully accepted. New poems and other 
Memory Quotations will be equally acceptable. 

This little book, as it goes out, should be a grain 
of mustard seed. It lies with those who use the 
book whether that grain of mustard seed grows into 
a great tree wherein the birds of the air may find 
places for their nests. We should even welcome 
letters from the boys and girls who are studying 
with you these thoughts; and chain letters started 
by the children might be of infinite use to other 
children, in other schools in other parts of the 
country. 

Let us work together. There is strength in num¬ 
bers. The teacher, the author, the class, make 
up the group in each case, and only through such 
cooperation can we be Living at Our Best . 


147 






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